JPS62247265A - Display unit for electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a display device for electronic equipment. More specifically, the present invention is capable of extremely efficiently illuminating and displaying the selected mode, etc. in an electronic device that has a large number of control switches etc. on the front panel and can freely select operating characteristics, modes, etc. It relates to a device for electronic equipment.

[Prior art and its problems] Electronic devices, especially electronic measuring instruments such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and spectrum analyzers, have a large number of control devices on the front panel, such as slide switches, push button switches, rotary switches, touch switches, etc. established,
The device is operated in the optimum operating mode and settings depending on various conditions.

For example, a general-purpose oscilloscope for research and development uses vertical input coupling (AC, DC, GND), trigger coupling (D
C, N0ISE, HF, LP, AC), trigger signal source (VERT, CHI, CH2, CH3, CH4, LIN
E), vertical operation mode (CHl, CH2, CH3, C
H4), sweep mode (AUTO, NORM, S
I NGLE,, RUN/TRIG AFTERDE
Various operation modes such as LAY) are selected as appropriate. Conventionally, as a specific means for this purpose, push button switches are provided for selecting each operation mode, and the name of the corresponding operation mode or its abbreviation is printed on the front panel near each of these switches. be.

However, in such a conventional configuration, the number of push button switches required is equal to the number of modes or functions to be selected, and a large number of push button switches are arranged on the front panel. Therefore, the push-button switch arranged in this manner occupies a large area on the front panel, making it difficult to miniaturize the switch and requiring skill to operate it, making it difficult to operate it quickly. Furthermore, this type of electronic measuring instruments is often used in dark (low lighting) environments, and therefore it is not easy to recognize which mode is selected (set), leading to serious measurement errors. There was also some consideration. Furthermore, arranging a large number of operation switches on the front panel is not desirable in terms of the design (aesthetics) of the device.

[Objective] Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel display device for electronic equipment that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional electronic equipment.

[Summary of the Invention] According to the present invention, a plurality of light emitting elements are exposed to an opening provided in a front panel of an electronic device, and the light emitting elements are selectively caused to emit light in accordance with mode selection by a control switch. A cover made of a semi-transparent or transparent (semi-transparent and transparent are collectively referred to as light-transmissive) plastic thin plates (or sheets) is provided on the front panel, and at positions corresponding to each light-emitting element of the cover,
Letters, symbols, or numbers (simply referred to as letters in the specification) representing the mode selected by the control switch are printed with, for example, light-absorbing ink. As a result, the characters corresponding to the mode selected with the control switch are illuminated or displayed, so the operator (
The operator) will be able to clearly see the selected mode. The number of switches used can be minimized by using, for example, a toggle switch and an up/down (reversible) counter as the control switch itself.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a front panel portion of an electronic device showing a preferred embodiment of a display device 23 for an electronic device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1A, 60 is a front panel of an electronic device such as an oscilloscope, and this front panel 60 has a conventional structure such as one or more laminated aluminum sheets. A plurality of openings 61 and 63 are formed in the front panel 60. A plastic plate 62 is formed on the outside of the front panel 60 (on the operator side). This plastic plate 62 may be transparent or semi-transparent, preferably semi-transparent. Preferably, this plastic plate 62 is color-coded according to the function of the control switches etc. placed on it, i.e. for example in the case of an oscilloscope. is C
The circuit board 64 is preferably separated from the front panel 60 by color-coding the operation parts related to RT (cathode ray tube), vertical axis, horizontal axis, or trigger for convenience of operation by the operator. In addition, this circuit board 6 is arranged substantially parallel to this.
4 to connect circuit components including the control switch SW1.

The control lever 74 of the control switch SWI is located on the front panel 6.
0 and a corresponding opening in the plastic plate 62 above it, protruding outwardly and being accessible by the operator. Further, the circuit board 64 includes a front panel 6.
A plurality of light emitting elements, ie, LEDs 72 a to 72 f, are mounted at positions facing the opening 61 of 0 so that their light emitting surfaces are close to the back surface of the plastic plate 62 . Although each of the light emitting elements 72a to 72f may be mounted independently, the light emitting elements 72a to 72f may be mounted in a housing as shown in FIG.
D support member) 66 is stored in each recess 70, and the support member 66
The LED support member 66 may be inserted into the opening 65 of the circuit board 64 and secured thereto.The LED support member 66 is preferably made of an opaque insulating plastic.

Although the specific circuit configuration will be described later, the display device 23 in FIG.
(Signal source) The operation when used for XB selection will be explained with reference to FIG. 2. As shown at the left end of FIG. 2, the display device 2
3 is a trigger for each mote of OURCE (i.e. VERT
, CHI, CH2° CH3, CH4 and LINE), and each mode is selected by the control switch SW1. When an electronic device is first turned on, it enters a predetermined mode, such as V E RT (vert
ical=vertical) mode is selected. This mode is
In this mode, the trigger signal is obtained from the signal selected by the vertical channel switching circuit of the oscilloscope. In this case, the LED 72a is turned on, and VERT printed on the plastic plate 62 on the front is displayed, indicating that the vertical mode is selected.Next, when the control lever 74 of the control switch SWI is pressed down, the next The mode CH1 is selected, the LED 72b is turned on instead of the LED 72a, and the letters CHI on the plastic plate 62 in front thereof are displayed by illumination. Similarly, each time the control lever 74 is pressed, the modes CH2, CH3, CH4 and LINE are sequentially selected, and the LED 72c.

72d, 72e, and 72f are sequentially turned on to illuminate and display the characters of the corresponding mode. CHI to CH4 are modes in which the signals input to vertical channels 1 to 4, respectively, are used as trigger signals, and LINE is a mode in which the AC power supply voltage of the electronic device is used as a trigger signal. Here, when the control lever 74 is pushed up, the mode above the currently selected mode is selected. In this way, by using one control switch SWI on the front panel,
In the above case, six different modes are selected and illuminated.

In the example of FIG. 2, in addition to the display device 23, the front panel includes, for example, a MODE display device 35 (associated with the control switch SW2 for selecting the sweep mode), and a C0UP
LING display device 29 (trigger C0UPLIN
These MODE display devices 35 and COU P L are associated with a control switch SW 3 for selecting G
Both the ING display bag f29 have the same configuration as the 5OURCE display device 23. Note that the contents of each selected mode are well known to those skilled in the art and are not a requirement of the invention, so a detailed explanation will be omitted. Furthermore, high-end oscilloscopes have a main (or normal = A) sweep and a delayed sweep (
Since it has two types of sweep circuits (B) and each selects the same operation mode, a shift key 8 is provided and the above-mentioned shift S O
U RCE , M O D E , and C0UPLING
can be used for both main sweep and delayed sweep.

Figure 3 shows the 5OURCE and C0 shown in Figures 1 and 2.
UPRING and MODE selection display device 23.29
and 35 is a simple block diagram showing an example of a circuit for operating the circuit. In the figure, 77 is S in Figures 1 and 2.
This is a control switch corresponding to WI, SW2 or SW3. Each time the operating lever of the control switch 77 is pushed up or down, the pulse generator 78 generates one output pulse. This output pulse is sent to the UP/DOWN counter (
A reversible counter) 76 is applied to count up or down depending on the direction in which the control lever 74 of the control switch 77 is operated. Further, when the control lever 74 is maintained in the upward (or downward) state for a certain period of time or more, the pulse generator 78 continuously outputs a plurality of pulses, causing the counter 76 to count up or count down. The storage device 80 stores and updates the contents of the counter 76 at regular intervals, and provides an output signal to the display device 82 to display the corresponding LED 7
2 Selectively turn on a to 72f. The conditioning circuit 81 sets up each part of the circuit (not shown) in the corresponding operation mode in accordance with selection mode information output from the storage device 80. Note that these functions can also be realized by a microprocessor (MPU) and software.

[Modifications and Modifications] Although the present invention has been described above in the case where it is applied to an oscilloscope, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment in any way, and may be applied to various electronic devices without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is possible. Furthermore, although the LED support member was used in the above description, each of the LEDs 72a to 72f may be directly embedded and fixed in a small opening provided in the front panel 60.

Furthermore, the plastic plate 62 may be opaque.

In this case, openings in the shape of display characters may be provided in the plastic plate to allow light to pass through. Furthermore, the color of the light emitted by the light emitting element 72 or the color of the characters on the plastic plate 62 may be changed depending on the selected mode.

[Effect] As understood from the above description, in the display device for electronic equipment of the present invention, each control switch has a plurality of mode selection functions, and the selected mode name or related abbreviation is displayed by illumination with a light emitting element. There is.

Therefore, the front panel is extremely compact and aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, since the selected mode is displayed with the corresponding characters, it is particularly suitable for application to electronic equipment such as electronic measurement equipment used in laboratories with low lighting or no lighting.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1(A) is a sectional view of a front panel portion of an embodiment of a display device for electronic equipment according to the present invention, and FIG. 1(B) is a perspective view of a support member for a light emitting element used in the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of a portion of the front panel of an oscilloscope to which the display device for electronic devices according to the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an electric circuit related to the display device for electronic devices according to the present invention. In the figure, SW 1 to SW 3 are control devices, 23.29
．． 35 is a display device, 6o is a front panel, 61.63 is an opening, 62 is a (semi) transparent thin plate, 72a to 72f are light emitting elements, and 66 is a support member for the light emitting elements. Patent issuer

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a display device for an electronic device that has at least one control device on a front panel and selects a plurality of different functions using the control device, an opening is provided in the front panel,
A light-emitting element is made to face the opening, the front panel is covered with a light-transmitting plate, and characters representing the mode selected by the control device are formed on the plate at a position corresponding to each light-emitting element,
A display device for electronic equipment, characterized in that the characters are illuminated by light emission from the light emitting element. (2) The display device for electronic equipment according to claim 1, wherein a switch is used as the control device, and the plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in the direction in which the switch is operated. (3) The display device for electronic equipment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the board is a translucent plastic board, and the characters are printed with light-absorbing ink.