KR20090035297A - Apparatus and method of indirect illumination for keypad - Google Patents

Apparatus and method of indirect illumination for keypad Download PDF

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Publication number
KR20090035297A
KR20090035297A KR1020070100505A KR20070100505A KR20090035297A KR 20090035297 A KR20090035297 A KR 20090035297A KR 1020070100505 A KR1020070100505 A KR 1020070100505A KR 20070100505 A KR20070100505 A KR 20070100505A KR 20090035297 A KR20090035297 A KR 20090035297A
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KR
South Korea
Prior art keywords
keypad
reflective sheet
light
light source
indirect illumination
Prior art date
Application number
KR1020070100505A
Other languages
Korean (ko)
Inventor
정기석
주용승
Original Assignee
삼성전자주식회사
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by 삼성전자주식회사 filed Critical 삼성전자주식회사
Priority to KR1020070100505A priority Critical patent/KR20090035297A/en
Publication of KR20090035297A publication Critical patent/KR20090035297A/en

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/02—Constructional features of telephone sets
    • H04M1/22—Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Push-Button Switches (AREA)

Abstract

An apparatus for indirectly lighting a keypad and a method thereof are provided to reflect the light toward the keypad uniformly through bends formed on a reflective sheet. An optical source(130) is installed at the lower part of a keypad(110), and radiates the light. A reflective sheet(140) is installed at a lower part of the optical source to reflect the light emitted from the optical source toward the keypad. On the reflective sheet, bends are formed so that the reflected light can uniformly radiated at locations where characters or figures are printed on the keypad. The curvature of the reflective sheet is set correspondingly to the distance between the optical source and reflective sheet.

Description

Apparatus and method of indirect illumination for keypad

The present invention relates to a keypad indirect lighting technology of the terminal, and more particularly, to a keypad indirect lighting device and method capable of illuminating the keys of the keypad as a whole.

In general, a mobile communication terminal is a personal mobile communication service terminal (Personal Mobile Communication Services Terminal), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a next-generation mobile communication terminal (International Mobile Telecommunication 2000: IMT-2000). And, such as a wireless LAN terminal refers to a terminal that can use a variety of functions using a wireless communication and various application programs while being carried by an individual.

These mobile communication terminals have not only been miniaturized and lightened by steady development, but also have various functions such as mp3, digital camera, navigation, and internet access. Accordingly, the mobile communication terminal is reborn as a complex communication terminal, and is already becoming a necessity of the modern man.

Meanwhile, the mobile communication terminal is provided with a keypad illumination device that illuminates the keypad so that a user can easily identify the keys of the keypad. In general, the keypad lighting apparatus is generally used indirect lighting method using the LED. However, the conventional indirect lighting method has a disadvantage in that the irradiated light is concentrated on a specific portion of the keypad, causing a glare, or conversely, a portion that is darker than the surroundings is generated because the light is not properly irradiated on the specific portion. That is, there is a problem that the light does not evenly illuminate the corresponding portion of the keypad as a whole. In addition, since light is irradiated in various directions, there is a problem in that light leakage occurs in which light leaks between the keys constituting the keypad.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a keypad indirect lighting device and method capable of irradiating light to the keys of the keypad as a whole.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a keypad indirect lighting device and method that can minimize the light leakage between each key of the keypad.

The present invention for achieving the above object is a keypad indirect lighting device for indirectly illuminating a keypad printed with a letter or shape, the light source unit is installed in the lower portion of the keypad to irradiate light and the lower portion of the light source unit is installed from the light source unit And a reflective sheet for reflecting the irradiated light to the keypad, wherein the reflective sheet is bent so that the reflected light is uniformly irradiated with a position where the letter or shape of the keypad is printed.

In addition, the present invention is a keypad indirect illumination method using the above-described keypad indirect illumination device, the process of irradiating light from the light source unit provided in the lower portion of the keypad, and the light emitted from the light source unit using the bending formed on the reflective sheet And reflecting and uniformly irradiating the character or shape of the keypad to a printed position.

The keypad indirect lighting device according to the present invention can uniformly irradiate light reflected through the bends formed on the reflective sheet in the direction of the keypad. Therefore, the user can visually check the keypad which is uniformly bright overall. In addition, since the direction in which the reflected light is irradiated can be adjusted, light is emitted outside the corresponding area, thereby minimizing light leakage.

Prior to the description of the present invention, the terms or words used in the specification and claims described below should not be construed as being limited to the ordinary or dictionary meanings, and the inventors should consider their own invention in the best way. For the purpose of explanation, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention on the basis of the principle that it can be appropriately defined as the concept of term. Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention, and do not represent all of the technical spirit of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

In addition, in describing the embodiments, descriptions of technical contents which are well known in the technical field to which the present invention belongs and are not directly related to the present invention will be omitted. In addition, detailed description of components having substantially the same configuration and function will be omitted.

For the same reason, some components in the accompanying drawings are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated, and the size of each component does not entirely reflect the actual size.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a keypad indirect lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B are cross-sectional views schematically illustrating another embodiment of the reflective sheet in the keypad indirect lighting device of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, the keypad indirect lighting device 100 according to the present invention includes a keypad 110 and a body portion 120.

The keypad 110 is a place where a user inputs a key using a finger or the like, and a plurality of keys are arranged. 1 shows only one key of these multiple keys. The keypad 110 may be formed in various structures such as a button type or a touch type. In the case of a button form, each key of the keypad 110 is separated and a key value pressed by the user is input. In the case of the touch type, the keypad 110 is preferably formed integrally, and obtains a corresponding key value according to the touched position.

The keypad 110 also includes an imprinted area 112. The light is irradiated to the outside and displays the imprinted letters or shapes, and the letters, numbers, or shapes corresponding to each key are imprinted.

The body part 120 is coupled to one surface of the keypad 110 and irradiates light to the marking area 112 of the keypad 110. To this end, the body 120 includes a hole 124 and a reflection area 122. The hole is a path through which light is radiated to the keypad 110. The reflection area 122 is a space in which light emitted from the light source unit 130, which will be described later, is reflected. The reflection area 122 is connected to the hole 124 and is formed in a larger space than the hole 124. The light source 130 and the reflective sheet 140 are installed in the reflective region 122 of the body 120.

The light source unit 130 is installed on one side of the reflective area 122 close to the keypad 110 and irradiates light toward the reflective sheet 140 provided on the bottom surface of the reflective area 122. The light source unit 130 according to the present embodiment irradiates light through an LED (Light Emitting Diode). However, it is not limited thereto.

The reflective sheet 140 is installed on the bottom surface of the reflective region 122 and reflects the light emitted from the LED of the light source unit 130 to irradiate the keypad 110. Reflective sheet 140 according to the present embodiment is bent to irradiate light uniformly to the stamping area 112 of the keypad (110). That is, as shown in Figure 1, the reflective sheet 140 according to the present embodiment is formed in a curved surface. In this case, the curvature of each portion of the reflective sheet 140 is set differently according to the distance from the light source unit 130. That is, the portion close to the light source unit 130 is formed to have a small curvature, and the portion far from the light source unit 130 is formed to have a large curvature. Accordingly, most of the light irradiated to the reflective sheet 140 may be irradiated to the marking area 112 of the keypad 110.

In addition, the curvature of the reflective sheet 140 according to the present exemplary embodiment may be set differently corresponding to the distance H (depth of the reflective region) between the light source unit 130 and the reflective sheet 140. The smaller the depth H of the reflective region 122, that is, the closer the distance between the light source unit 130 and the reflective sheet 140 as shown in FIG. 1, the larger the overall curvature of the reflective sheet 140 becomes. As the distance increases, the overall curvature of the reflective sheet 140 becomes smaller as shown in FIG. 2A. Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the case where the curvature 140 of the reflective sheet is set differently according to the position is taken as an example, but various applications are possible, such as being formed in the shape of an arc as shown in FIG. 2B as a whole. .

The reflective sheet 140 according to the present embodiment may be formed of an aluminum thin film sheet. However, in addition to this, any material that can effectively reflect light emitted from the light source 130 may be applied in various ways.

Next, a keypad indirect illumination method using the keypad indirect illumination device 100 according to the present embodiment will be described.

When a user presses the keypad 110 to generate a key input, the LED of the light source unit 130 is turned on accordingly. The lit LED is irradiated with light to the reflective sheet 140 positioned below, and the reflective sheet 140 reflects the irradiated light.

At this time, the reflective sheet 140 according to the present embodiment is not formed flat but is formed in a curved surface. Therefore, the light irradiated onto the reflective sheet 140 is reflected along the curved surface, and most of the light is irradiated to the stamping area 112 of the keypad 110.

Since the reflective sheet 140 according to the present invention can determine the angle or range to which the light is irradiated using the curvature of the curved surface, it is possible to irradiate the reflected light more accurately to a desired position (for example, the stamping area). Accordingly, the user can visually check the keypad 110 as a whole, which is brighter than the surroundings or is brighter than the surroundings. In addition, since all of the reflected light is concentrated to the marking area 112, the light is irradiated to a region other than the marking area 112 so that light leakage may occur.

3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a keypad indirect lighting device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The keypad indirect lighting device 200 according to the present embodiment has a structure similar to that of the keypad indirect lighting device 100 of FIG. 1 described above, and has a difference only in the form of the reflective sheet 240. Therefore, detailed description of the same components will be omitted and will be described with the focus on the reflective sheet 40.

In the reflective sheet 240 according to the present exemplary embodiment, an uneven pattern is formed on a flat surface. This pattern is for irradiating light emitted from the light source unit 230 to irradiate uniform light to the keypad 240. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of protrusions 242 protrude. Is formed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it is also possible to form a pattern with concave grooves in place of the protruding protrusions 242.

The protrusions 242 according to the present embodiment are formed on the reflective sheet 240 at regular intervals. Meanwhile, in the present exemplary embodiment, a case in which the protrusions 242 are concentrated only on a position where light is irradiated from the light source unit 230 is described as an example. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the protrusions 242 may be formed on the entire reflective sheet 240. Various applications are possible. In addition, the protrusions 242 according to the present embodiment may be formed at a higher density as the distance H between the light source unit 230 and the reflective sheet 240 increases. When the protrusions 242 of the reflective sheet 240 are formed at low density, the light diffused to the pattern portion is low in brightness. On the contrary, when the projections 242 are formed at a high density, the diffusely reflected light has high luminance. Therefore, it is preferable to form the protrusions 242 at a suitable density based on the distance H between the light source unit 230 and the reflective sheet 240.

Looking at the keypad indirect illumination method using the keypad indirect illumination device 200 having a reflective sheet 240 according to this embodiment as follows.

When a user presses the keypad 240 to generate a key input, the LED of the light source unit 230 is turned on accordingly. The lit LED irradiates light to the reflective sheet 240 positioned below, and thus light is irradiated to the pattern portion of the reflective sheet 240, in particular, the reflective sheet 240.

Light irradiated onto the pattern portion is diffusely reflected by the protrusions 242. The diffusely reflected light is diffused toward the upper portion of the reflective sheet 240, that is, the keypad 240, to examine the keypad 240. As described above, in the keypad indirect lighting device 200 according to the present embodiment, light is not reflected through the flat surface of the reflective sheet 240, and light diffused by the projections 242 is diffused and irradiated to the keypad 240. Therefore, as described above, the user can visually check the keypad 240 that is uniformly bright throughout.

As described above, the keypad indirect lighting device according to the present invention may concentrate light reflected through the bends (curves or protrusions) formed on the reflective sheet to the stamping area of the keypad. The user can visually see the keypad as a whole, evenly bright. In addition, since the reflected light is concentrated and irradiated to the imprinted area, light may be irradiated to an area other than the imprinted area, thereby suppressing light leakage.

On the other hand, the keypad indirect lighting device and method according to the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, various modifications are possible by those skilled in the art within the technical idea of the present invention. For example, in the present exemplary embodiment, the light source unit is positioned on an upper side of the reflective sheet to emit light to the reflective sheet as an example. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be applied to various cases such as irradiating light with one side of the reflective sheet such as the waveguide sheet. In this embodiment, the protrusions formed on the reflective sheet are formed to have the same size as an example. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be formed in various forms such as different sizes or heights of protrusions depending on the direction in which light is irradiated.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the keypad indirect lighting device provided in the mobile communication terminal has been described as an example, but in addition to this, any electronic device that includes a keypad and illuminates the keypad through an indirect lighting method may be variously applied.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a keypad indirect lighting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are cross-sectional views schematically showing another embodiment of the reflective sheet in the keypad indirect lighting device of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a keypad indirect lighting device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (12)

A keypad indirect lighting device that indirectly illuminates keypads printed with letters or shapes, A light source unit installed at a lower portion of the keypad to irradiate light; A reflection sheet installed below the light source unit to reflect light emitted from the light source unit to the keypad; The reflective sheet is a keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that the bent so that the reflected light is irradiated uniformly to the position where the letter or shape of the keypad is printed. The method of claim 1, The reflective sheet is a keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that formed in a curved surface. The method of claim 2, The curvature of the reflective sheet is set in correspondence with the distance between the light source and the reflective sheet. The method of claim 3, wherein And the curvature of the reflective sheet increases as the distance between the light source unit and the reflective sheet approaches. The method of claim 3, wherein The reflective sheet is a keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that the curvature of each part is different according to the distance from the light source. The method of claim 1, The reflective sheet is a keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that the irregular pattern is formed on the surface of the light is reflected. The method of claim 6, The pattern is a keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that formed in a structure in which a plurality of protrusions protrude. The method of claim 7, wherein The keypad indirect lighting device, characterized in that formed at regular intervals. The method of claim 7, wherein The projections are keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that formed at a narrower interval away from the light source. The method according to claim 2 or 6, The light source unit keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that using the LED as a light source. The method according to claim 2 or 6, The reflective sheet is a keypad indirect illumination device, characterized in that using an aluminum thin film sheet. A keypad indirect illumination method using the keypad indirect illumination device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, Irradiating light from a light source unit provided at the bottom of the keypad; And reflecting the light irradiated from the light source unit uniformly to a position where the letter or shape of the keypad is printed by using the bending formed on the reflective sheet.
KR1020070100505A 2007-10-05 2007-10-05 Apparatus and method of indirect illumination for keypad KR20090035297A (en)

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR200470624Y1 (en) * 2012-01-25 2014-01-03 주식회사 마그마 Light guide sheet for keypad
WO2017030341A1 (en) * 2015-08-19 2017-02-23 엘지이노텍(주) Lighting device
KR102068420B1 (en) * 2018-12-10 2020-01-20 주식회사 아이레보 Touch panel for door lock

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR200470624Y1 (en) * 2012-01-25 2014-01-03 주식회사 마그마 Light guide sheet for keypad
WO2017030341A1 (en) * 2015-08-19 2017-02-23 엘지이노텍(주) Lighting device
KR102068420B1 (en) * 2018-12-10 2020-01-20 주식회사 아이레보 Touch panel for door lock

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