JP2001209328A - Electroluminescence display device of electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electroluminescence display device which is thin, consumes less electric power, is capable of partially emitting light and is low in a manufacturing cost. SOLUTION: The electroluminescence display device 7 disposed at an electronic apparatus having a liquid crystal display section and an operation key section is provided with a liquid crystal display board light emitting section 7b which irradiates the liquid crystal display section from a rear surface side to allow the section to emit light and a key light emitting section 7c for allowing the operation key section to emit light.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a liquid crystal display panel light emitting section for illuminating a liquid crystal display section from the back side to emit light, and a key light emitting section for emitting light from an operation key section. The present invention relates to an electroluminescent display device of an electronic device which has a small power consumption, a small size, a small thickness, and a low manufacturing cost by providing a portion on one substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid crystal panel is only a light shutter, and a light source is required to utilize the shutter as a display element. Therefore, a backlight for irradiating light is provided behind the liquid crystal panel. FIG. 10 illustrates a backlight system using a fluorescent lamp. Light from a fluorescent lamp 53 as a light source of the backlight is reflected by a lamp reflector 54 and emitted in one direction, and is efficiently guided to a light guide plate 55 made of acrylic or the like. The light guided to the light guide plate 55 propagates while being totally reflected in the light guide plate 55, and irradiates the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel with plane light. Light guide plate 55
The unevenness in brightness of the plane light emitted from the liquid crystal panel is reduced by the diffusion plate 57, and the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel is irradiated with the plane light having uniform brightness. The reflection plate 56 is provided to reuse light leaked below the light guide plate 55.

[0003]

In recent years, portable electronic devices having an information display function, such as laptop computers, mobile phones, and portable terminals, have been required to be further reduced in size and thickness. However, in the backlight system using a fluorescent lamp as described above, since a point light source or a linear light source is used as a light source of the backlight, a mechanism for uniformly diffusing the light is required, and the lamp reflector 54 is required.
, A light guide plate 55, a diffusion plate 57, a reflection plate 56, and the like. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to reduce the size and thickness, and the manufacturing cost is increased. In addition, since a fluorescent lamp is used, power consumption is large.

Further, in the backlight system using a fluorescent lamp as described above, in order to partially illuminate as a backlight, a complicated diffusion mechanism or a plurality of light emitting sources and diffusion mechanisms are required. And the manufacturing cost is significantly increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electroluminescent display device of an electronic device which is thin, consumes little power, can emit light partially, and is inexpensive to manufacture.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an electroluminescence display device for an electronic device, which is provided in an electronic device having a liquid crystal display portion and an operation key portion. And a key light emitting section for emitting light from the liquid crystal display panel and emitting light from the operation key section.

In the electroluminescent display device for electronic equipment according to the present invention, the liquid crystal display panel illuminates the liquid crystal display section from the back side as a backlight by the light emitting section of the liquid crystal panel, and displays characters, numerals and symbols displayed on the liquid crystal display section. Irradiation,
The operation key section can be irradiated and emitted by the key light emitting section. Thus, an electroluminescent display device of an electronic device which is thin, consumes little power, and is inexpensive can be realized.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an electroluminescence display device for electronic equipment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a mobile phone to which an electroluminescence display device of an electronic apparatus according to the present invention is applied. The mobile phone 1 is provided with an earpiece 3 for listening to the voice of the other party, an incoming call display lamp section 5 for displaying that a call has been received, and a liquid crystal display section 6 for displaying various information at the upper part of a front panel 2 which is a housing. Have been.

Below the liquid crystal display section 6 of the front panel 2, a multi-function key 10, a start key 11 used for making and receiving a call, an end key / power key 12 used for ending a call, Numeric keys 13 from 0 to 9, [*] key 15 as a function key and [#]
A key 16 is provided, and a mouthpiece 18 for sending to the other party is provided below the key 16. An antenna 19 is stored at the upper right end of the mobile phone 1 so as to be able to expand and contract. Then, a multi-function key 10, a start button 11, an end button / power button 12, a numeric key 13, a [*] key 15, and [#]
An operation key 17 is constituted by the key 16. Each operation key 17 is made of a translucent synthetic resin capable of transmitting light.

The front panel 2 and the back surface of the liquid crystal display section 6 have electroluminescence (electroluminescence:
EL) A display plate 7 is provided. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic structure of the electroluminescent display panel 7. The electroluminescent display panel 7 has a five-layer structure in which a transparent conductive film 23, an electroluminescent luminescent layer 24, a high dielectric layer 25, and a back dielectric electrode 26 are sequentially laminated and formed on a substrate 22 made of, for example, transparent plastic. is there. The back dielectric electrode 26 includes, for example, a first electrode 26a and a second electrode 26.
b and a third electrode 26c. A transparent conductive film 23, which is a common electrode, is connected to an AC high voltage power supply 27 for electroluminescence light emission, and a first electrode 26a and a second electrode 26b of a back dielectric electrode 26 are connected via an electrode switch 28. , And the third electrode 26c are connected.

When a transparent conductive film 23 is connected to an AC high-voltage power supply 27 and, for example, a first electrode 26a via an electrode switch 28, and an alternating voltage is applied between the transparent conductive film 23 and the first electrode 26a, the Luminescent luminescent layer 24
The first electrode 26a emits light. Similarly, the second electrode 26b is connected to the AC high-voltage power supply 2 by the electrode changeover switch 28.
7, when an AC voltage is applied between the transparent conductive film 23 and the second electrode 26b, the second electrode 26b of the electroluminescent luminous layer 24 emits light. When the AC voltage 26c is connected to the AC high-voltage power supply 27 and an AC voltage is applied between the transparent conductive film 23 and the third electrode 26c, the third electrode 26c portion of the electroluminescent luminescent layer 24 emits light. Therefore, the transparent conductive film 23, the first electrode 26a, the second electrode 26b, and the third
It is possible to freely switch between partial light emission and full surface light emission by combining the electrodes 26c. Needless to say, the transparent conductive film 23, the first electrode 26a, the second electrode 26b, and the third electrode 26c are arranged in a matrix, so that the backlight can freely emit light.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electroluminescence light emitting circuit. The signals from the operation keys 17 and various other signals from the mobile phone are transmitted to the MPU (Multi Processing Unit).
nit: central processing unit) 31 for processing. MP
A control program storage means 32 is provided in a bus 31a of U31,
An electroluminescence driver circuit 33, a high voltage switching circuit 35, and a voice / music generation circuit 36 are connected.

The electroluminescence driver circuit 33 is for generating an AC voltage for driving the transparent conductive film 23 and the back dielectric electrode 26 which are common electrodes. A high voltage switching circuit 35 of a common electrode switching type is connected to the electroluminescence driver circuit 33. That is, the transparent conductive film 23 is connected to the electroluminescence driver circuit 33, and the first electrode 26a, the second electrode 26b, and the third electrode 26b of the back dielectric electrode 26 are connected via the electrode switch 28. The electrode 26c is connected.

A signal from the audio / music generating circuit 36 is amplified by an amplifier 37 and output from a speaker 38 as sound. The MPU 31 may of course be the same as the MPU of the mobile phone 1 itself.

FIG. 4 shows a front panel 2 and a liquid crystal display section 6.
FIG. 4 is a view showing an electroluminescent display plate 7 provided on the back surface of the display device. The electroluminescence display panel 7 has an incoming display lamp light-emitting portion 7a for making the incoming display lamp portion 5 emit light, a liquid crystal display panel light-emitting portion 7b for making the liquid crystal display portion 6 emit light, and for making various operation keys 17 emit light. The operation key light emitting portion 7c is provided.

The substrate 2 of the electroluminescent display panel 7
2, an electroluminescent light emitting layer 24 and a high dielectric layer 25 are disposed on the entire surface.
a, a transparent conductive film 23 and a rear dielectric electrode 26 are arranged in the liquid crystal panel light emitting portion 7b and the operation key light emitting portion 7c. Therefore, the electroluminescent display panel 7 emits light only in the incoming call indicator light emitting section 7a, the liquid crystal display panel emitting section 7b, and the operation key emitting section 7c.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a liquid crystal panel light emitting portion 7b of the electroluminescent display panel 7. As shown in FIG. In the light emitting portion 7b of the liquid crystal display panel, a transparent conductive film 23 as a common electrode and a third electrode 26c are arranged over the entire surface. A first electrode 26a indicating the first shape of the character and a second electrode 26b indicating the second shape of the character are arranged below the light emitting portion 7b of the liquid crystal display panel. When an AC voltage is applied between the transparent conductive film 23 and the first electrode 26a, as shown in FIG. 5A, the first shape of the character is displayed by light emission on the liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion 7b. Transparent conductive film 23 and second electrode 26
When an AC voltage is applied between b and b, the second shape of the character is illuminated and displayed on the liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion 7b as shown in FIG. Thereby, a moving character can be displayed.

The transparent conductive film 23 and the third electrode 26c
When an AC voltage is applied during this time, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), the entire liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion 7b emits light and illuminates characters, numbers and symbols displayed on the liquid crystal display portion 6 as a backlight. can do.

Next, the light emitting operation of the electroluminescent display panel 7 will be described. When a call arrives at the mobile phone 1, the control program stored in the control program storage means 32 controls the switching of the electrode changeover switch 28 to blink the incoming call indicator light emitting portion 7a (that is, the incoming call indicator lamp portion 5 is turned on). Blinking), and the first and second shapes of the characters are alternately displayed on the liquid crystal panel light emitting portion 7b. Next, the liquid crystal panel light emitting section 7b
The whole emits light and illuminates a telephone number or a mail message displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 6 as a backlight.

On the other hand, when making a call with the cellular phone 1, pressing a desired one of the numeric keys 13 causes the pressed numeric key portion of the operation key light emitting portion 7c of the electroluminescence display panel 7 to be pressed. While emitting light only while
The entire liquid crystal panel light emitting section 7b emits light, and irradiates the telephone number displayed on the liquid crystal display section 6 as a backlight. Next, when the start key 11 is pressed, light is emitted only while the start key 11 portion of the operation key light emitting portion 7c of the electroluminescence display panel 7 is pressed, and a telephone call is made. When the end key / power key 12 is pressed, the light is emitted only while the end key / power key 12 portion of the operation key light emitting portion 7c of the electroluminescence display panel 7 is pressed, and the end key / power key 12 is pressed. Is released, the entire electroluminescent display panel 7 stops emitting light.

Further, by operating the operation keys 17, it is possible to cause the liquid crystal display panel light emitting section 7b to emit and display only the character by the control program stored in the control program storage means 32. At the same time as the light emission display of the character, the voice / music generator 3
A voice / music signal corresponding to the character is generated from 6 and output from the speaker 38 as sound. In this way, you can enjoy the character that moves whenever you want with music.

Accordingly, since the electroluminescent display panel 7 is used as the backlight of the liquid crystal display section 6, a mechanism for uniformly diffusing light is not required unlike the conventional backlight system using a fluorescent lamp. In addition, a small and thin portable electronic device with low power consumption can be realized.

One electroluminescent display panel 7
Incoming indicator lamp light emitting section 7a, liquid crystal display panel light emitting section 7b
Further, since the operation key light emitting section 7c is provided, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced.

Since partial light emission is possible, it is possible to cause only a desired portion of the liquid crystal display section 6 to emit light or to partially color it. Further, a back dielectric electrode 2 which is a plurality of EL electrodes
By switching the six first electrodes 26a, the second electrodes 26b, and the third electrodes 26c, it is possible to give movement to a picture such as a character, a symbol, or a character.

Next, a second embodiment of the electroluminescence display device for electronic equipment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 shows an example of the mobile phone according to the second embodiment to which the electroluminescence display device of the electronic apparatus according to the invention is applied. In the mobile phone 40 according to the second embodiment, a plurality of transparent portions 43 are provided at predetermined intervals on the left and right peripheral portions of a front panel 41 which is a housing. Here, twelve transparent portions 43 are provided, and the rest is configured similarly to the front panel 2 of the mobile phone 1 of the above-described first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electroluminescence light emitting circuit. Signals from the operation keys 17 and various other signals from the mobile phone are input to the MPU 31 and processed. A control program storage means 32 and an electroluminescence driver circuit 3 are provided on a bus 31a of the MPU 31.
3. High voltage switching circuit 45 which is a matrix electrode switching method
And a sound / music generating circuit 36 are connected. The electroluminescence driver circuit 33 is connected to, for example, six row electrodes which are the transparent conductive films 23 via the row electrode switch 47 of the high voltage switch circuit 45 and switches the column electrode switch 48 of the high voltage switch circuit 45. For example, it is connected to five column electrodes which are the back dielectric electrodes 26, for example. Therefore, by switching the row electrode changeover switch 47 and the column electrode changeover switch 48, it is possible to switch the electroluminescent light emitting portions at 6 × 5 = 30 places.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an electroluminescent display panel 50 provided on the back surface of the front panel 41. An incoming call indicator light emitting unit 50 for causing the incoming call indicator lamp unit 5 to emit light is provided on the electroluminescent display panel 50.
a, a liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion 50b for causing the liquid crystal display portion 6 to emit light, an operation key light emitting portion 50c for causing the various operation keys 17 to emit light, a housing light emitting portion 50d for causing the transparent portion 43 to emit light, and a character. A character light emitting unit 50e for emitting light is provided. Housing light emitting unit 50
For example, a pattern of a star mark is formed on d by an EL electrode.

On the substrate 22 of the electroluminescent display panel 50, an electroluminescent luminous layer 24 and a high dielectric layer 25 are disposed on the entire surface. Key light emitting unit 50
c, the six row electrodes and the five column electrodes are arranged in a matrix in the housing light emitting unit 50d and the character light emitting unit 50e. Therefore, the electroluminescent display panel 5
0 can switch and emit light at 30 electroluminescent light emitting portions as shown in FIG.

Next, the light emitting operation of the electroluminescent display panel 50 according to the second embodiment will be described. Incoming call indicator light emitting unit 50 of electroluminescent display panel 50
a, the light emitting operation of the liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion 50b, the operation key light emitting portion 50c, and the character light emitting portion 50e are substantially the same as those of the portable electroluminescent display plate 7 of the first embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted. Only the light emitting operation of the light emitting unit 50d will be described.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining the light emitting operation of the electroluminescent display panel 50 according to the second embodiment. The transparent portions 43 are set as a set of three. The first transparent portions 43a, 43d, 43g, and 43j of the set of three are caused to emit light by the light emission of the corresponding housing light emitting portion 50d to display an asterisk,
Next, the second transparent portions 43b and 43 of the set of three
e, 43h, and 43k are illuminated by the light emission of the corresponding housing light emitting unit 50d to display an asterisk, and the third transparent portions 43c, 43f, 43i, and 43l of the set of three light emitting units correspond to the corresponding housing light emission. The light is emitted by the light emission of the unit 50d to display a star mark. As described above, the high-voltage switching circuit 45 switches the stars of the transparent portion 43 arranged on the peripheral portion of the front panel 41 at short time intervals, and sequentially emits light, thereby displaying as if the stars are moving. be able to. In addition, a pattern such as a character may be used instead of the star, and when a character is used, it can be displayed as if the character is moving.

Therefore, upon receiving a call or operating the operation keys,
The transparent portion 43 arranged on the periphery of the front panel 41 emits light in a predetermined order, and it is possible to display a pattern such as a character on the transparent portion 43 as if it is moving. Since the sound and music are output from the speaker 38, the mobile phone can be used more enjoyably.

In the first and second embodiments, the electroluminescence display device of the electronic device is applied to a mobile phone. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the liquid crystal display of a PHS, a portable information terminal, an electronic game machine, or the like may be used. It goes without saying that the present invention may be applied to other electronic devices including a display unit and a keyboard.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the liquid crystal display panel light emitting unit of the electroluminescent display device was used as the backlight of the liquid crystal display unit, there was no need for a mechanism for uniformly diffusing light as in the conventional backlight system using a fluorescent lamp, Low power consumption,
A small and thin portable electronic device can be realized.

In the electroluminescent display device according to the present invention, since the liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion and the key light emitting portion are provided on one substrate, the manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced.

Further, since partial light emission is possible, it is possible to switch the light emitting portion or to add movement to a character, symbol, character, or other picture displayed by light emission.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a mobile phone to which an electroluminescence display device of an electronic device of the invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic structure of an electroluminescent display panel.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an electroluminescence light emitting circuit.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the electroluminescent display panel.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a light emitting portion of a liquid crystal display panel of the electroluminescent display panel.

FIG. 6 is an example of the mobile phone according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electroluminescence light emitting circuit according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a front view of an electroluminescent display panel according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a light emitting operation of the electroluminescent display panel according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a backlight system using a fluorescent lamp.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,40 Mobile phone (electronic device) 2,41 Front panel (housing) 5 Incoming indicator lamp part 6 Liquid crystal display part 7,50 Electroluminescent display panel 7a, 50a Incoming indicator lamp light emitting part 7b, 50b Liquid crystal display panel light emitting Part 7c, 50c Operation key light-emitting part (key light-emitting part) 50d Housing light-emitting part 50e Character light-emitting part 17 Operation key (operation key part) 22 Substrate 23 Transparent conductive film 24 Electroluminescence light-emitting layer 25 High dielectric layer 26 Back surface Dielectric electrode 26a First electrode 26b Second electrode 26c Third electrode 28 Electrode switch 31 MPU 32 Control program storage means 33 Electroluminescence driver circuit 35,45 High voltage switch circuit 43 Transparent part 47 Row electrode switch 48 column electrode switch

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takanari Nabeshima 21-4-3 Matsugaya, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo F-term in the company's PANET (reference) 2H091 FA44Z GA11 LA11 LA12 LA18 LA30 5G006 JA01 JB06 JC01 5G435 AA16 AA17 AA18 BB05 BB12 BB17 CC02 CC05 CC09 DD09 EE12 EE26 GG21 GG25 KK05 LL07 LL08 LL09 LL11

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An electroluminescence display device provided in an electronic device having a liquid crystal display section and an operation key section, wherein: a liquid crystal display panel light emitting section that irradiates the liquid crystal display section from the back side to emit light; An electroluminescence display device for an electronic device, comprising: a key light emitting section for emitting light. 2. The electroluminescent display device of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal panel light emitting section and the key light emitting section are provided on a single substrate. 3. The electroluminescent display device of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting portion of the liquid crystal display panel and the key light emitting portion can partially emit light. 4. The electroluminescence display device of an electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display panel light emitting section can display moving characters, symbols, and pictures. 5. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a transparent portion is provided on at least a part of a housing of the electronic device, and a housing light emitting portion for emitting light from the transparent portion is provided. Electroluminescence display of equipment. 6. The electroluminescent display of an electronic device according to claim 5, wherein said liquid crystal display panel light emitting portion, said key light emitting portion, and said housing light emitting portion are provided on one substrate. apparatus. 7. The electroluminescence display device for an electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the housing light emitting section is capable of displaying moving characters, symbols, and pictures.