KR20090003906A - Portable terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

A portable terminal is provided to make a display module slim by uniformly illuminating the whole surface of an e-paper. A sealing member is mounted on the rear side of an illumination unit(60) to cover an e-paper(50). One end of the sealing member is combined with the cover(63) of a lighting-emitting part, and the other end is combined with one side of a light guide part(61) to seal the e-paper hermetically. The sealing member is made of synthetic resin material such as PMMA(Poly Methyl Meta Acrylate) and PC(Poly Carbonate) capable of minimizing the penetration of moisture. The durability of the display module can be improved by a structure in which the sealing member and illumination unit cover the e-paper.

Description

Mobile terminal {PORTABLE TERMINAL}

The present invention relates to a portable terminal having a display module equipped with an e-paper whose front surface is illuminated.

A portable terminal is a portable device that is portable and has one or more functions such as voice and video calling, information input and output, and data storage.

As the functions are diversified, for example, the mobile terminal has complex functions such as taking a picture or video, playing a music or video file, playing a game, and receiving a broadcast, and is realized in the form of a comprehensive multimedia player. It is becoming.

Many new attempts are being applied to these multimedia devices in terms of hardware or software to implement complex functions. For example, a user interface environment is provided for a user to search for or select a function easily and conveniently.

In addition, while a mobile terminal is regarded as a personal portable device for expressing its individuality, various designs are required.

As described above, various attempts have been made to apply a flexible display having a thin shape and a flexible material to the portable terminal in order to reduce the thickness of the portable terminal and diversify the design. In particular, as one kind of flexible display, a study for applying an E-paper to a portable terminal has been attempted.

The present invention is to provide a display module that can uniformly illuminate the front surface of the E-paper in applying the display module applying the E-paper to the portable terminal.

A portable terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention for realizing the above object includes a terminal body and a display module mounted on the terminal body, wherein the display module is formed in a thin shape and electronically displays information and an e-paper. And an illumination unit disposed at the front side of the uniformly illuminating the front side of the e-paper.

As an embodiment of the present invention, the lighting unit may include a light emitting portion disposed adjacent to one end of the e-paper and a light guiding portion for guiding the light of the light emitting portion to the paper, wherein the light portion of the light emitting portion is e-paper. The pattern may be formed to be totally reflected to.

As an embodiment of the present invention, the display module may further include a sealing member mounted to the lighting unit to seal the e-paper to minimize the inflow of moisture to the e-paper.

In the mobile terminal according to the present invention, in applying the e-paper to the display module of the mobile terminal, the thickness of the display module can be made slimmer by uniformly illuminating the front surface of the e-paper.

In addition, as the e-paper is applied to the portable terminal, the degree of freedom in design can be increased, and more various visual information can be given to the user.

In addition, by forming a pattern on the front surface of the lighting unit so that the light generated in the light emitting unit is totally reflected, it is possible to more effectively illuminate the E-paper.

In addition, by mounting the sealing member on the display module, it is possible to minimize the inflow of moisture to the E-paper.

1 is a front perspective view of an example of a mobile terminal according to the present invention;

The portable terminal of the present invention includes a first body 10 and a second body 20 configured to be slidable in at least one direction on the first body 10.

A state in which the first body 10 is disposed to overlap the second body 20 may be referred to as a closed configuration, and as shown in the drawing, the first body 10 may be referred to as the second body 20. The exposed state of at least a portion of the N may be referred to as an open configuration.

The portable terminal operates mainly in the standby mode in a closed state, but the standby mode may be released by a user's operation. In addition, although the portable terminal operates mainly in a call mode or the like in an open state, the portable terminal may be switched to a standby mode by a user's operation or a lapse of a predetermined time.

A case (casing, housing, cover, etc.) forming the exterior of the first body 10 is formed by the front case 11 and the rear case 12. Various electronic components are embedded in the space formed by the front case 11 and the rear case 12.

At least one intermediate case may be further disposed between the front case 11 and the rear case 12.

The cases may be formed by injecting a synthetic resin or may be formed of a metal material, for example, a metal material such as stainless steel (STS) or titanium (Ti).

The display unit 13, the audio output unit 14, the first image input unit 15, or the first manipulation unit 16 may be disposed on the first body 10, specifically, the front case 11.

The display unit 13 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) module, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) module, and the like that visually express information.

In addition, the display unit 13 may further include a touch screen to enable input of information by a user's touch.

The sound output unit 14 may be implemented in the form of a receiver or a speaker.

The first image input unit 15 may be implemented in the form of a camera module for capturing an image or a video of a user.

The first manipulation unit 16 receives a command for controlling the operation of the portable terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Like the first body 10, the front case 21 and the rear case 22 may form a case of the second body 20.

The second manipulation unit 23 may be disposed on the front surface of the second body 20, specifically, the front case 21.

The third manipulation unit 24, the first sound input unit 25, and the interface 26 may be disposed on at least one of the front case 21 and the rear case 22.

The first to third manipulation units 16, 23, and 24 may be collectively referred to as manipulating portions, and may be employed in any manner as long as the user is tactile in a tactile manner.

For example, the operation unit may be implemented as a dome switch or a touch screen that can receive a command or information by a user's push or touch operation, a touch pad, or a wheel or jog method that rotates a key, or a manipulation method such as a joystick. Or the like.

In functional terms, the first operation unit 16 is for inputting commands such as start, end, scroll, and the like, and the second operation unit 23 is for inputting numbers, letters, symbols, and the like. In addition, the third manipulation unit 24 may operate as a hot-key that performs a special function such as activation of the first image input unit 15.

The first sound input unit 25 may be implemented in the form of, for example, a microphone to receive a user's voice, other sounds, and the like.

The interface 26 serves as a passage for allowing a portable terminal related to the present invention to exchange data with an external device. For example, the interface 26 may be wired or wireless, and a connection terminal for connecting to an earphone, a port for short-range communication (for example, an infrared port (IrDA port), a Bluetooth port, a wireless LAN port ( wireless LAN port), or at least one of power supply terminals for supplying power to the mobile terminal.

The interface 26 may be a card socket for receiving an external card, such as a subscriber identification module (SIM) or a user identity module (UIM), a memory card for storing information.

On the rear case 22 side, a power supply unit 27 for supplying power to the portable terminal is mounted. The power supply unit 27 may be detachably coupled for charging, for example, as a rechargeable battery.

2 is a rear perspective view of the portable terminal of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, a second image input unit 28 may be additionally mounted on the rear surface of the rear case 22 of the second body 20. The second image input unit 28 may be a camera having a photographing direction substantially opposite to that of the first image input unit 15 (see FIG. 1) and having different pixels from the first image input unit.

For example, the first image input unit 15 has a low pixel so that the user's face is photographed and transmitted to the counterpart in case of a video call, and the second image input unit 28 immediately photographs a general subject. It is preferable to have a high pixel because it is not transmitted in many cases.

The flash 29 and the mirror unit 30 are further disposed adjacent to the second image input unit 28. The flash 29 emits light toward the subject when the subject is photographed by the second image input unit 28. The mirror unit 30 allows the user to see his / her own face or the like when the user wants to photograph himself (self-photographing) by using the second image input unit 28.

The second sound output unit 31 may be further disposed on the lower cover 22.

The second sound output unit 31 may implement a stereo function together with the first sound output unit 14 (see FIG. 1), and may be used for a call in a speakerphone mode.

In addition, an antenna 32 for receiving a broadcast signal may be disposed on one side of the lower cover 22 in addition to an antenna for a call or the like. The antenna 32 may be installed to be pulled out from the second body 20.

A portion of the slide module 33 that slidably couples the first body 10 and the second body 20 to the rear case 12 side of the first body 10 is disposed.

The other part of the slide module 33 may be disposed on the front case 21 side of the second body 20, and may not be exposed to the outside as shown in the drawing.

In the above description, the second image input unit 28 is disposed on the second body 20, but is not necessarily limited thereto. For example, at least one or more of the components 28 to 32 described as disposed on the lower cover 22, such as the second image input unit 28, may be disposed on the first body 10, mainly the lower cover 12. It is also possible to be mounted. If so, there is an advantage that the configuration (s) arranged in the lower cover 12 in the closed state are protected by the second body 20. In addition, even if the second image input unit 28 is not separately provided, the first image input unit 15 may be rotatably configured to photograph the second image input unit 28 in the capturing direction.

On the rear of the second body 20, a cover 47 covering the power supply unit 27 is mounted to be opened and closed.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 1 for explaining a display module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment will be described based on the case where the display module related to the present invention is applied as the second operation unit 23.

The display module related to the present invention includes an E-papaer 50 and an illumination unit 60.

The e-paper 50 is thin and is used to display information electronically. The e-paper 50 is much thinner and bendable than a conventional flat panel display panel (for example, LCD) and can be driven with very little energy. There are advantages that are superior in efficiency.

This bi-paper 50 can be implemented using an electrophoretic phenomenon, for example, the upper and lower transparent transparent microcapsule containing the ink particles of a specific color with a specific charge and the ink particles of a different color with a reverse charge When placed on the electrode and applied a voltage, the text or image is displayed.

Although many attempts have been made for the application to the portable terminal due to the advantages of the two-paper 50, the paper 50 does not have a self-luminous function and has a low light transmittance. Therefore, when the lighting by the back-lighting (lighting) is low, it is difficult to identify the content displayed on the E-paper 50 at night or in a dark place, which is difficult to apply to a mobile terminal. It has been.

The lighting unit 60 is to solve this problem, and is disposed on the front surface of the e-paper 50 to uniformly illuminate the front surface of the e-paper 50. The e-paper is not illuminated by back-lighting, but is illuminated by the lighting unit in such a way that the light illuminates the front side of the e-paper, i.e., by front-lighting.

The lighting unit 60 overcomes limitations on the mounting space caused by the mechanical characteristics of the portable terminal, and uniformly illuminates the entire surface of the e-paper 50. The lighting unit 62 and the light guide unit ( 61).

The light emitter 62 is disposed adjacent to one end of the e-paper 50 to emit light for illuminating the entire surface of the e-paper 50. As the light emitting unit 62, light emitting devices such as a light emitting diode (LED) and a semiconductor laser (semiconductor laser) may be used. The light emitting part 62 is mounted with a light emitting part cover 63 formed to surround the other directions except for one direction of the light emitting part 62. The light emitting part cover 63 functions to prevent light emitted from the light emitting part 62 from being distributed in other directions so that the light travels only in the direction in which the E-paper 50 is disposed.

The light guide portion 61 is for guiding the light emitted from the light emitting portion 62 to the e-paper 50. The light guide portion 61 forms a light transmissive area so that the contents displayed on the e-paper 50 can be viewed from the outside. It can be formed as. As in the present embodiment, the light guide portion 61 may be formed of a light-transmissive area on its entire surface, or may be partially formed of a light-transmissive area. Synthetic resin, acrylic material, or the like may be used as the material of the light guide portion 61.

An e-paper 50 is disposed on the rear surface of the light guide portion 61, and the paper 50 is mounted on a printed circuit board 35 on which electronic components which perform various functions included in the portable terminal are mounted. The e-paper 50 is electrically connected to the printed circuit board 35 to display various information by an electrical signal of the printed circuit board 35.

A touch film 64 for inputting information by a user's touch may be attached to the front of the light guide 61. An ITO (indium tin oxide) film may be used as the touch film 64, and a protective film for protecting the same may be attached to the upper surface thereof.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of guiding the light emitted from the light guide portion 61 to the e-paper 50 will be described in detail.

4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the light guide part 61 provided in the display module of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pattern 65 may be formed on the front surface of the light guide portion 61 formed in the form of a panel so that the light emitted from the light emitting portion 62 is totally reflected. The pattern 65 formed on the light guide portion 61 may be formed in a regular concave-convex shape on the front surface of the light guide portion 61, and the concave-convex portion of the present embodiment is formed in a sawtooth shape in cross section.

Light emitted from the light emitting unit 62 may be classified into a, b, and c rays according to the reflection pattern as shown in FIG. 4 for convenience.

A light, such as a light beam, passes through the interior of the light guide portion 61 to the e-paper 50, and thus, a part of the light until the incident angle θ ₁ is greater than or equal to a predetermined angle. Reaches the e-paper 50 and some of it is reflected. Accordingly, the light exiting from the light emitting portion 62 and reaching the e-paper 50 directly illuminates the e-paper 50.

When the light emitted from the light emitting part 62 reaches the rear surface of the light guide part 61 through the light guide part 61 like the b light beam, when the incident angle θ ₂ is greater than or equal to a predetermined angle, the b light beam is totally reflected to b the light beam. The whole of is directed toward the front of the light guide portion 61. Accordingly, the b ray reaches the pattern 65 formed on the front surface of the light guide portion 61, and the pattern 65 formed on the light guide portion 61 totally reflects the b ray. The b-rays totally reflected by the pattern 65 formed on the front surface of the light guide portion 61 are directed toward the rear direction of the light guide portion, and from this time, the light rays b proceed in the same manner as the above-described a light rays. The pattern 65 formed on the front surface of the light guide portion 61 also totally reflects a ray reflected from the rear surface of the light guide portion 61.

When the light emitted from the light emitting portion 62 passes through the inside of the light guide portion 61 to reach the front surface of the light guide portion like the c ray, the pattern 65 formed on the front surface of the light guide portion 61 totally reflects the c light ray.

Due to the configuration as described above, the light emitted from the light emitting part 62 disposed at one end of the e-paper 50 can be totally reflected by the pattern 65 to reach the other end of the e-paper 50. It is possible to reach uniformly from one end of the paper 50 to the other end. In order to maximize the uniformity of illumination, the light guide portion 61 may have a shape in which the central axis is thick and thinner toward both ends as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1 for explaining a display module according to another embodiment of the present invention. In contrast, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as in the above-described embodiment.

E-paper 50 is much thinner and flexible than conventional flat panel displays (e.g. LCDs) and has the advantage of being able to be driven with very little energy. There is a problem that moisture penetration is easier than that of other displays. Accordingly, in applying the e-paper 50 to the portable terminal, it is required to improve the moisture resistance of the e-paper 50.

In order to solve the above problems, the display module related to the present invention may further include a sealing member 70 to minimize the inflow of moisture to the e-paper 50.

The display module related to the present embodiment has the same configuration as the above-described embodiment, but further includes a sealing member 70 mounted on the rear surface of the lighting unit 60.

The sealing member 70 may be mounted on the rear surface of the lighting unit 60 to form a cover surrounding the e-paper 50. One end of the sealing member 70 may be coupled to the light emitting part cover 63, and the other end of the sealing member 70 may be coupled to the side surface of the light guide portion 61 to seal the E-paper 50. However, in addition to such a coupling scheme, any coupling scheme may be used as long as it is coupled to the lighting unit 60 to seal the e-paper 50. Sealing member 70 is a material that can minimize the penetration of moisture, for example, it may be formed of a synthetic resin material such as poly methyl meta acrylate (PMMA), poly carbonate (PC).

Due to the structure in which the sealing member 70 and the lighting unit 60 surround the e-paper 50, durability of the display module to which the e-paper 50 is applied may also be improved.

The display module related to this embodiment is mounted on the printed circuit board 35 inside the second body 20. Here, the E-paper 50 and the printed circuit board 35 may be electrically connected by a flexible printed circuit board passing through the sealing member 70, or may be electrically connected through a connection terminal formed on the sealing member 70. It may be.

Hereinafter, the operation of the display according to the embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 will be described.

6 is a front plan view of a portable terminal equipped with a display module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the display module related to the present invention may be configured in the form of a touch screen as the second manipulation unit 23. In this case, the paper 50 of the display module displays information necessary for inputting information, for example, numbers required for inputting a telephone number.

In the state (a) of FIG. 6, when the user operates an operation for changing the contents displayed on the second operation unit 23, for example, the third operation unit 24, the paper 50 differs from the information displayed before the operation. Information can be displayed. For example, the consonants and vowels of Korean for text message transmission are displayed on the e-paper 50 as shown in FIG.

As such, by configuring the display module in the form of a touch screen, various numbers, letters, and the like are displayed on a single button in the related art. According to the selection, the size of the text displayed on the button is increased, which may provide convenience to the user's information input.

In addition, as shown in (c) of FIG. 6, a menu indicating a function of the terminal may be directly displayed on the second operation unit 23, thereby replacing the function of the display unit 13 and being displayed to the user. A plurality of pieces of video information may be provided to the unit 12 and the second manipulation unit 23 at the same time.

In the present exemplary embodiment, the display module related to the present invention is used as the second operator 23, but the present invention is applicable to the first operator 16 and the third operator 24, and in the future, the E-paper ( As the number of pixels that 50 can represent increases, the present invention can be applied to the display unit 13 as well.

7 is a perspective view of a portable terminal equipped with a display module 80 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The display module 80 according to the present embodiment may be mounted on the first body 10 to integrally surround the side surface of the first body 10 of the portable terminal.

By utilizing the thin, bendable flexibility of the e-paper 50, the e-paper 50 is not limited to the bent portion formed at each corner of the first body 10. It may be arranged to surround the side.

The content of the text message may be continuously displayed along the side of the first body 10 on the display module 80, and the phone number of the other party may be displayed when a call is received. In the present embodiment, the display module 80 may further include a touch film on its front surface, and may be formed in a touch screen form.

As described above, the display module 80 may be mounted in the same space as the side of the first body 10 without being limited by the mounting space, and may be bent using the thin property of the e-paper 50. It is possible to mount the display module 80 to have a curved surface or bent portion using the. Accordingly, information may be displayed in various spaces of the portable terminal, thereby increasing user convenience and providing a portable terminal having various designs.

In this embodiment, the case in which the display module 80 is mounted on the side of the first body 10 is described as an example. However, when the bent portion is formed and the display module is mounted therein, any part of the mobile terminal is displayed. It is possible to mount the module 80.

8 is a rear plan view of a portable terminal equipped with a display module 90 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The display module 90 according to the present embodiment may be mounted on the rear of the portable terminal, that is, the rear case 22. Due to the thinness of the e-paper 50, even if the cover 47 is mounted on the rear surface of the rear case 22, the thickness of the second body 20 is not affected.

The display module 90 may be mounted on the cover 47 of the rear case 22 and electrically connected to the second body 20 when the cover 47 is coupled to the rear case 22. To this end, contact terminals may be formed on the rear surface of the cover 47 and the rear case 22.

The display module 90 is mounted on the rear side of the portable terminal and configured to display an image captured by the second image input unit, for example, the camera 28. Accordingly, even when taking a self-camera shot of the slide-type portable terminal, the image of the photographer can be seen through the display module 90. In addition, when taking a picture of another person using the mobile terminal, the person taking the picture can see the picture of himself / herself through the display module 90.

The portable terminal is not limited to the configuration and method of the embodiments described above, but the embodiments may be configured by selectively combining all or some of the embodiments so that various modifications can be made.

1 is a front perspective view of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a rear perspective view of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1 for explaining a display module related to one embodiment of the present invention;

4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a light guide part provided in the display module of FIG. 3;

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1 for explaining a display module related to another embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a front plan view of a mobile terminal equipped with a display module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a perspective view of a portable terminal equipped with a display module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a rear plan view of a mobile terminal equipped with a display module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (9)

A terminal module and a display module mounted to the terminal body; The display module, E-paper formed thin and electronically displaying information; And And a lighting unit disposed on the front side of the e-paper to uniformly illuminate the front side of the e-paper. The method of claim 1, The lighting unit, A light emitting part disposed adjacent to one end of the e-paper; And And a light guide part for guiding the light of the light emitting part to the paper. The method of claim 2, The light guide portion is formed in the form of a panel in which a transmissive region is formed so that the e-paper can be seen, the front surface is characterized in that the pattern is formed so that the light of the light emitting portion is totally reflected to the inside of the e-paper. The method of claim 3, The pattern is a portable terminal, characterized in that formed on the front of the light guide portion in the form of regular irregularities. The method of claim 3, The light guide portion has a form in which the central axis is thick and becomes thinner toward both ends. The method of claim 1, The display module further comprises a sealing member mounted to the lighting unit to seal the e-paper to minimize the inflow of moisture to the e-paper. The method of claim 6, The sealing member is disposed on the back of the e-paper and the portable terminal, characterized in that coupled to the back of the lighting unit to surround the e-paper. The method of claim 1, The display module further includes a touch film attached to the front of the lighting unit, The display module is a portable terminal, characterized in that formed in the form of a touch screen for inputting information as one area is touched. The method of claim 1, The rear of the terminal body is equipped with a camera module for taking a picture or video, The display module is mounted to the rear of the terminal, characterized in that for displaying the image taken by the camera module.

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