JPH0668742A - Structure of electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To thin electronic equipment and improve its operability. CONSTITUTION:A film liquid crystal display member 9 is arranged in the opening 6 of an equipment case 1 and covered with a transparent display member 10 such as a glass. A switch member 8 is provided under the film liquid crystal display member 9, and an operating button 5 for the switch member 8 is provided so as to penetrate the film liquid crystal display member 9 and the transparent display member 10. A circuit board 7 is provided under the switch member 8, and the opening 5 is blocked with a back cover 11. All is made thinner, and operability and portability are improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of electronic equipment having a function of displaying information input by key operation and processed contents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic equipment such as a personal computer is designed to display input information and processed information by operating a key on an operation button. Therefore, such an electronic device is provided with an operation panel having operation buttons and a display panel for displaying information. However, in a small electronic device such as a wrist watch type or a card type, it is difficult to separately provide an operation panel and a display panel, and the operation button is provided integrally with the display panel. In such a small electronic device,
Since the number of operation buttons that can be arranged is limited, switching to a plurality of functions is performed by providing a shift key, but in any case, the operation buttons are provided integrally with the display panel.

[0003]

As described above, in such a small electronic device, since the operation portion of the operation button and the portion for displaying information are integrated, the electronic equipment becomes thick and cannot be made thin. It was difficult to improve and it was inconvenient to carry and handle. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a structure of an electronic device that can be improved in designability and function by enabling a reduction in thickness.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic apparatus according to the present invention comprises a switch member having a plurality of operation buttons arranged on the upper surface, and a plurality of operation buttons arranged above the switch member. A film liquid crystal display member having a through-hole formed therethrough, and a transparent display member having a through-hole formed above the film liquid crystal display member and through which the plurality of operation buttons penetrate. To do. In this case, the transparent display member may be formed with an operation portion of an operation button instead of the through hole. The electronic device of the present invention includes a device case having an opening, a switch member housed in the opening of the device case and having a plurality of operation buttons arranged on the upper surface, and the switch member arranged above the switch member. It is also provided with a film liquid crystal display member having a through hole through which the operation button of (1) is formed, and a transparent display member arranged above the film liquid crystal display member and operable to correspond to the plurality of operation buttons. And

[0005]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to illustrated examples. In each of the embodiments, the same elements are designated by the same reference numerals and correspond to each other, thereby omitting redundant description. 1 to 6 show a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment includes a device case 1 curved in an arc shape, and a panel 2 provided on the surface of the device case 1. The device case 1 is entirely formed of elastic synthetic resin, and is curved and used by being attached to a user's arm like a wristwatch. By being mounted in this way, portability and handleability are improved. The panel 2 is provided along the longitudinal direction of the device case 1, and one side in the longitudinal direction is the display unit 3 and the other side is the operation unit 4. A plurality of operation buttons 5 are arranged on the operation unit 4 in an aligned state.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.
The device case 1 has a multi-stage opening 6 formed therein.
A circuit board 7, a switch member 8, a film liquid crystal display member 9 and a transparent display member 10 are arranged in this order from the bottom. Reference numeral 11 denotes a back cover that is fixed to the back surface of the device case 1 by adhesion or the like to close the lower end surface of the opening 6. FIG. 3 shows a partially enlarged view of FIG. 2, and the internal structure will be described below with reference to these drawings.

The circuit board 7 has flexibility, and at a predetermined position thereof, L for controlling the operation of the entire electronic device is used.
SI12 is installed. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 13 is a recess formed at a corresponding position of the device case 1 for accommodating the LSI 12. Circuit board 7 is switch member 8
The back surface of the switch member 8 is electrically connected to the switch member 8 to supply a signal from the operation button 5 of the switch member 8 to the LSI 12. Further, the back surface of the film liquid crystal display member 9 is partially in contact with the circuit board 7, whereby the circuit board 7 and the film liquid crystal display member 9 are electrically connected, and the display signal from the LSI 12 is supplied to the film. It is supplied to the liquid crystal display member 9.

As shown in FIG. 3, the switch member 8 has a pair of upper and lower flexible sheets 8a and 8b arranged to face each other.
The operation button 5 is attached to the upper flexible sheet 8b. An electrode 15 is provided on the lower surface of the upper flexible sheet 8b so as to travel in one direction, and an electrode 16 is provided on the upper surface of the lower flexible sheet 8a so as to face the operation button 5. They are provided in a direction orthogonal to each other (a direction that penetrates the paper surface in the illustrated example). The plurality of operation buttons 5 are provided at positions where these electrodes 15 and 16 intersect, and when a predetermined operation button 5 is pressed, the electrodes 15 and 16 corresponding to the operation button 5 come into contact with each other, and the signal Are output to the LSI 12. In addition, a pair of flexible sheets 8a and 8b
A spacer 17 made of an insulating material is interposed between the electrodes, so that when the pressing operation on the operation button 5 is released, the electrodes 15 and 16 are separated so as to be in a non-contact state.

The film liquid crystal display member 9 is laminated on the upper surface of the switch member 8. A through hole 18 through which the operation button 5 penetrates is formed in a portion of the film liquid crystal display member 9 corresponding to the operation portion 4. The film liquid crystal display member 9 includes a pair of upper and lower flexible sheets 9a and 9b,
A liquid crystal member 19 inserted between the flexible sheets 9a and 9b is provided, and the whole has a thin film shape.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the film liquid crystal display member 9. The upper portion is a display portion 3a for visually displaying information in characters, and the lower portion is an operation portion 4a in which a through hole 18 for an operation button 5 is formed. A spacer 20 is inserted between the flexible sheets 9a and 9b around each through hole 18 to support the sliding movement of the operation button 5. A spacer 21 is also interposed between the flexible sheets 9a and 9b in the peripheral portion, and the flexible sheet 9 is formed by these spacers 20 and 21.
a and 9b maintain a predetermined interval. The transparent display member 1 provided on the upper surface of such a film liquid crystal display member 9
0 is made of transparent glass or synthetic resin and covers the entire film liquid crystal display member 9. As a result, the information displayed on the display portion 3a of the film liquid crystal display member 9 is visible from the outside, and the film liquid crystal display member 9 is protected.

5 and 6 show display examples of the panel 2 in this embodiment. In the present embodiment, among the plurality of operation buttons 5 arranged on the operation unit 4, the operation button 5a in the lower row is a digit selection key, the operation button 5b is a set key, and the operation button 5c is a mode switching key. In order to clearly indicate the functions of these operation buttons 5a, 5b, 5c, a display to that effect is printed on the corresponding portions of the transparent display member 10. In addition, operations 5d, 5e, 5f, 5g, 5 in the upper and middle rows
h and 5i are input keys for numerical values or characters. The input modes of the operation buttons 5a, ... 5i are switched by operating the operation button 5c.
When c is pressed once, the date and time are displayed on the display unit 3, as shown in FIG. In this embodiment,
It is applied to an electronic wrist watch, and the device case 1 corresponds to a wrist watch case and its band. In addition to the display of the date and time, "1" is displayed near the operation button 5d,
“2” is displayed in the vicinity of the operation button 5e, “3” and “4” are displayed, and hereinafter, numerical values are displayed in the vicinity of the corresponding operation buttons 5f, 5g, 5h. Based on such a display, it can be used as a guide for the user to input a numerical value. For example, when "1" is input, the operation button 5a is pressed once, and when "2" is input, the operation button 5b is pressed twice. Next, when the operation button 5c is pressed twice, the data bank mode is set as shown in FIG. 6, and the name of the person and the telephone number thereof are displayed on the display unit 3. In this mode, “A”, “B” and “C” are displayed near the operation button 5d, and “D”, “E” and “F” are displayed near the operation button 5e,
Hereinafter, characters are displayed on the corresponding operation buttons 5f, 5g, 5h, 5i. This allows the user to use it as a guide for inputting characters. Numerical display or character display near the operation buttons corresponding to the above modes is performed by the film liquid crystal display member 9. Therefore, the liquid crystal member 19 around the through hole 18 through which the operation button 5 penetrates (see FIG. (See 3)
Is a display means for optically performing such display.

In this embodiment, the switch member 8
The operation button 5 of is passed through the film liquid crystal display member 9 and the film liquid crystal display member 9 has a thin structure, so that the entire structure can be made thin, which improves designability and
Handleability is improved. FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the operation button 5 of the switch member 8 is inserted into the through hole 18 of the film liquid crystal display member 9, but is covered with the transparent display member 10 without penetrating it. As the transparent display member 10, an acrylic resin having elasticity and transparency is used.
Information can be input by pressing a portion corresponding to the operation button 5. In this embodiment, since the transparent display member 10 covers the entire film liquid crystal display member 9, waterproofness is imparted, and the projections of the operation button 5 are eliminated, so that the appearance is improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to a card-type electronic device.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, the thin film liquid crystal display member is used, and since the operation button of the switch member penetrates the film liquid crystal display member, it is possible to make the whole thin, thereby designing and functioning. Can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

3 is a partially enlarged sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a film liquid crystal display member.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a display example of a panel.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of another display example of the panel.

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Equipment Case 5 Operation Button 6 Opening 8 Switch Member 9 Film Liquid Crystal Display Member 10 Transparent Display Member

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A switch member having a plurality of operation buttons arranged on an upper surface thereof, a film liquid crystal display member having a through hole formed above the switch member and through which the plurality of operation buttons penetrate, and a film liquid crystal display member. A structure of an electronic device, comprising: a transparent display member disposed above a display member and having a through hole through which the plurality of operation buttons penetrate. 2. A switch member having a plurality of operation buttons arranged on an upper surface thereof, a film liquid crystal display member having a through hole formed above the switch member and through which the plurality of operation buttons penetrate, and a film liquid crystal display member. A structure of an electronic device, comprising: a transparent display member which is arranged above a display member and on which operation portions of the plurality of operation buttons are formed. 3. An equipment case having an opening, a switch member housed in the opening of the equipment case and having a plurality of operation buttons arranged on the upper surface, and the plurality of operation buttons arranged above the switch member. An electronic device characterized by comprising: a film liquid crystal display member having a through hole formed therethrough; and a transparent display member disposed above the film liquid crystal display member and corresponding to the plurality of operation buttons so as to be operable. Equipment structure. 4. A display means for optically displaying the function of an operation button penetrating the through hole is provided near the through hole of the film liquid crystal display member. The structure of the electronic device according to any one. 5. The structure of the electronic device according to claim 3, wherein the device case is a wristwatch case.