JP2009059544A - Light guide, and electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive space-saving light guide capable of illuminating a liquid crystal display panel, an operation key, and further the other portions for design improvement when mounted on an electronic apparatus and also available as a substitute for a pilot lamp, and to provide an electronic apparatus equipped with the light guide. <P>SOLUTION: The light guide 6 for an electronic apparatus having a liquid crystal display panel 2 and operation keys 3 on the main surface enclosed in side and end surfaces of the casing 1 is equipped with a panel light guide section 6a and a key light guide section 6b for converting the paths of the guided light and emitting it in a planar form to illuminate the liquid crystal display panel 2 and the operation keys 3 and an exposed end portion 6d whose ends are exposed to the side and end surfaces of the casing 1 to output the guided light to the outside. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a light guide used for a planar light source that illuminates a liquid crystal display panel such as a mobile phone or an operation key, and an electronic apparatus including the same.

  Liquid crystal display devices for image display are widely used as displays used in electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, mobile type PCs (personal computers), and portable game machines. This liquid crystal display device uses a backlight unit that emits light from the back side of the liquid crystal display panel to increase the brightness of the display screen. In this backlight unit, a light guide plate that guides light from a light source such as a fluorescent tube or an LED and emits the light from the entire main surface toward the liquid crystal display panel is used. Also, these electronic devices such as mobile phones use operation keys. For easy operation in a dark place, for example, for operation keys that illuminate the operation keys by irradiating light from the back side. A light source is used.

  Conventionally, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes an illuminating device for an electronic apparatus using one thin plate-shaped light guide plate that includes a first illumination part that illuminates a liquid crystal panel and a second illumination part that illuminates an operation key. Has been. In Patent Document 2, a part of light from a light source for a liquid crystal panel is emitted to the outside from a light emitting part of a light guide plate for a liquid crystal panel, and light from the light emitting part is received by a light receiving part provided in a hinge part. In addition, a folding information terminal has also been proposed in which light received by a light guide plate provided on the keyboard side case is advanced.

JP 2001-358816 A JP 2002-49439 A

However, the following problems remain in the conventional technology.
In recent years, in electronic devices such as mobile phones, PDAs, mobile type PCs (personal computers), and portable game machines, not only the liquid crystal display panel and operation keys, but also other parts are illuminated and featured in appearance and design has been improved. Improvement is desired.
Moreover, in these electronic devices, for example, a pilot lamp such as an LED that displays an arbitrary constant state by light emission, such as during charging, is often mounted, but the member cost and assembly cost of the pilot lamp are necessary, A space for mounting the pilot lamp was required, which hindered the downsizing and thinning of the equipment.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and by being mounted on an electronic device, not only a liquid crystal display panel and operation keys but also other parts can be illuminated to improve design, and at low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide a light guide that can be substituted for a space-saving pilot lamp and an electronic device including the same.

  The present invention employs the following configuration in order to solve the above problems. That is, the light guide according to the present invention is a light guide used in an electronic apparatus in which at least one of an image display panel and operation keys is provided on a main surface surrounded by a side surface and an end surface of a housing. The light is converted into an optical path and emitted into a planar shape, and a planar light guide that illuminates at least one of the image display panel and the operation key, and an end surface is exposed and guided to at least one of the side surface and the end surface of the housing. And an exposed end face part for emitting the emitted light to the outside.

  In this light guide, since light is emitted to the outside from the exposed end surface portion where the end surface is exposed on at least one of the side surface and the end surface of the housing, not only the image display panel and operation keys but also the side surface or end surface of the housing Can also emit light, and the appearance design of the mounted electronic device can be improved.

  In addition, the light guide body of the present invention is characterized in that it is entirely in the form of a film. In other words, since the entire light guide has a film shape, the entire light guide body is flexible and can be bent and curved, and can be mounted in various shapes and forms. is there.

  The light guide of the present invention is a transparent or semi-transparent light guide body having the planar light guide section and a transparent or semi-transparent structure that is disposed opposite to and close to the end face of the light guide body. A translucent member. In other words, the light guide includes a light-transmitting member that is provided separately from the light guide body, guides light from the end face of the light guide body, and guides the light to the outside as an exposed end face. Therefore, by adopting a translucent member having a cross-sectional shape, thickness or color different from that of the light guide body, exposed end surface portions of various shapes and colors can be obtained. Moreover, the end surface of the light guide body can be protected by the translucent member and can be prevented from being damaged.

An electronic device of the present invention is an electronic device in which at least one of an image display panel and operation keys is provided on a main surface surrounded by a side surface and an end surface of a housing, and makes a light source and light from the light source incident. And the light guide body of the present invention for guiding the light.
Since this electronic apparatus includes the light guide body of the present invention, it is possible not only to illuminate the image display panel and the operation keys but also to emit side light or end face light with a simple configuration, thereby improving design. .

  In addition, the electronic apparatus of the present invention includes a pilot lamp mechanism that displays an arbitrary fixed state by light emission from the light emitting unit, and the exposed end surface portion is the light emitting unit. That is, in this electronic device, the exposed end surface portion of the light guide is used as the light emitting portion of the pilot lamp mechanism, so that it is not necessary to separately prepare and mount a pilot lamp such as an LED, thereby reducing member costs and assembly costs. In addition, the space for mounting the omitted pilot lamp member is not required, and the size and thickness can be further reduced.

The present invention has the following effects.
That is, according to the light guide according to the present invention, since light is emitted to the outside from the exposed end surface portion where the end surface is exposed on at least one of the side surface and the end surface of the housing, not only the image display panel and the operation keys. The side surface or the end surface of the housing can also emit light. Therefore, according to the electronic device provided with this light guide, the appearance design can be improved, and further, as a substitute for the pilot lamp, it is possible to reduce the member cost and the assembly cost, and to reduce the size and the thickness. it can. In particular, it is suitable for mobile phones, portable game machines, and the like that are strongly demanded to improve design, thin and light.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of a light guide according to the present invention and an electronic apparatus including the same will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In each drawing used in the following description, the scale is appropriately changed to make each member a recognizable size.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electronic device according to the present embodiment includes a casing 1 that has a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and a liquid crystal display panel (image display panel) 2 and a main surface of the casing 1. A so-called straight type mobile phone provided with an operation key 3, which is an LED light source (light source) L, a light guide 6 that guides light from the LED light source L, and the light guide 6. A liquid crystal backlight unit 7 which is arranged on the back side of the liquid crystal display panel 2 and illuminates the liquid crystal display panel 2, and a key portion 8 which is a switch module provided on the key-side housing portion 4 and provided with the operation keys 3. I have.

As shown in FIG. 1, the light guide 6 has a rectangular film shape as a whole, and includes a panel light guide section (planar light guide section) 6 a that illuminates the liquid crystal display panel 2, and operation keys 3. The key light guide (illuminating light guide) 6b to be illuminated, the panel light guide 6a and the key light guide 6b are connected to each other to connect the light guide 6c. And an exposed end face portion 6d for emitting the light guided to the outside by exposing the end face to both side faces of the housing 1 and the end face opposite to the LED light source L.
That is, the housing 1 is formed with slit-shaped insertion hole portions 1a across both side surfaces and the end surface opposite to the LED light source L, and the exposed end surface portion of the light guide 6 is formed in the insertion hole portion 1a. 6d is inserted in an exposed state.

The light guide 6 is made of a translucent material, guides the light from the LED light source L incident from the side end portion thereof, changes the optical path, and from the main surface (upper surface in the present embodiment). A film-shaped light guide plate that is flexible and emits planar illumination light to the illumination object (the liquid crystal display panel 2 and the operation key 3). The light guide 6 has a thickness of about 125 μm, for example.
Further, the light guide 6 has a fine optical shape (not shown) such as a prism having a triangular cross section and convex dots formed on the surface of the panel light guide 6a. The key light guide 6b also has a fine optical shape 6d such as white printing dots formed on the surface thereof. In addition, you may give a fine optical shape to the surface also in the connection light guide part 6c as needed.

The light guide 6 includes, for example, a base material layer (not shown) and a resin layer (not shown) formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the base material layer and having a plurality of fine optical shapes for optical path conversion formed on the surface. And is composed of.
The base material layer and the resin layer are formed of, for example, a transparent polycarbonate resin or an acrylic resin. The base material layer is formed into a flat sheet using, for example, a roll forming method. The resin layer is cured with ultraviolet light (UV light) using a mold, for example, a photo-curing resin such as acrylic, urethane, urethane acrylate, epoxy acrylate, etc. It is produced by molding an ultraviolet (UV) curable resin to be shaped.
The light guide 6 having a predetermined shape is obtained by press-cutting or cutter-cutting a large-sized product formed by the above molding.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal backlight unit 7 includes an LED light source (light source) L, a panel light guide 6 a of the light guide 6 that guides light from the LED light source L, and A diffusion sheet 9, a first prism sheet 10A and a second prism sheet 10B laminated on the upper surface of the panel light guide 6a, and a reflective sheet 11 installed on the lower surface of the panel light guide 6a. ing.

  The diffusion sheet 9 is a sheet in which silica particles or the like are dispersed in a transparent resin such as an acrylic resin or a polycarbonate resin.

  The first prism sheet 10A is disposed on the diffusion sheet 9, and the second prism sheet 10B is disposed on the first prism sheet 10A. The first prism sheet 10A and the second prism sheet 10B are transparent sheet-like members for condensing light from the diffusion sheet 9 on the upper surface side, and have a prism portion having a plurality of parallel ridge lines on the upper surface side. is doing. Further, the first prism sheet 10A has the ridge line of the prism portion set at a twisted position with respect to the optical axis of the LED light source L, and in particular, the light of the LED light source L as a direction in which high upward directivity is obtained. It is set parallel to the direction orthogonal to the axis. In the second prism sheet 10B, the ridge line of the prism portion is set parallel to the optical axis of the LED light source L. That is, in the first prism sheet 10A and the second prism sheet 10B, the ridge lines of the prism portions are arranged at twisted positions, and the ridge lines are orthogonal to each other in plan view. The diffusion sheet 9 and the prism sheets 10A and 10B may be provided in the key light guide 6b as necessary. In this case, a separate body may be integrated with the diffusion sheet 9 and the prism sheets 10A and 10B provided in the panel light guide 6a.

  A plurality of the LED light sources L are white LEDs that are arranged at the end of the light guide 6 on the panel light guide 6a side and are mounted on a light source mounting substrate (not shown). This white LED is, for example, a semiconductor light emitting element on a substrate sealed with a resin material. As the semiconductor light emitting element, for example, a blue (wavelength λ: 470 to 490 nm) LED element or ultraviolet light (wavelength λ: less than 470 nm). An LED element is formed by laminating a plurality of semiconductor layers of a gallium nitride compound semiconductor (for example, an InGaN compound semiconductor) on an insulating substrate such as a sapphire substrate.

Further, the resin material for sealing the semiconductor light emitting element is mainly composed of a silicone resin and, for example, a YAG phosphor is added. This YAG phosphor converts white light or ultraviolet light from a semiconductor light emitting element into yellow light and generates white light by a color mixing effect. Various white LEDs other than those described above can be used.
In order to obtain high brightness of the liquid crystal display panel 2, the LED light source L is preferably disposed on the panel light guide 6a side, but in order to increase the brightness on the operation key 3 side, the key light guide. The LED light source L may be disposed on the 6b side, or may be disposed on both the panel light guide 6a side and the key light guide 6b side.

  The liquid crystal display panel 2 is a transmissive or transflective liquid crystal display panel. For example, in the case of the transflective liquid crystal display panel 2, a panel body in which a liquid crystal such as TN liquid crystal or STN liquid crystal is sealed with a sealing material in a gap between an upper substrate and a lower substrate each having a transparent electrode, an alignment film, and a polarizing plate. And a transflective plate having both light-transmitting and light-reflecting functions on its lower surface side.

  The reflection sheet 11 is a metal thin plate, film, foil or the like having a light reflection function and flexibility, and a film provided with a silver vapor deposition film is employed in this embodiment. Note that an aluminum metal vapor deposition film or the like may be employed instead of the silver vapor deposition film.

  The key portion 8 includes a plurality of operation keys 3 that are at least partially transparent or translucent, a key sheet 13 that is provided below the operation keys 3 and has a convex portion corresponding to the operation keys 3 on the lower surface, and the keys And a switching mechanism 14 disposed below the sheet 13 and on the lower surface of the key light guide 6b.

The operation key 3 is a key formed of a transparent or translucent resin, and displays a number, characters, or symbols for inputting a telephone number or the like, and a plurality of key tops 15 are configured.
The switching mechanism 14 includes, for example, a switch board 16 disposed below the operation key 3 and the light guide portion 6b for keys, and a tact switch 17 installed on the switch board 16. When the operation key 3 is pressed, Further, the corresponding tact switch 17 is pressed through the convex portion of the key sheet 13 and the flexible key light guide 6b so that the switch can be operated.

  The electronic device includes a pilot lamp mechanism 19 that displays an arbitrary fixed state such as during charging by light emission from the light emitting unit, and the exposed end surface portion 6d serves as the light emitting unit. That is, the pilot lamp mechanism 19 includes a control unit 19a such as a microcomputer housed in the housing 1, the light guide 6 whose exposed end surface 6d serves as a light emitting unit, and the LED light source L. ing. In the pilot lamp mechanism 19, when the controller 19a connects the AC power source to a rechargeable battery (not shown) of an electronic device and starts charging, the LED light source L emits light and emits light from the exposed end surface portion 6d. It emits to the outside and emits light to indicate that it is in a charged state. When the LED light source L can emit light of any different color such as R (red), G (green), and B (blue), the exposed end face portion is divided into the emission color during charging and the emission color at the completion of charging. You may make it light-emit from 6d. As another example, the control unit 19a of the pilot lamp mechanism 19 may cause the LED light source L to emit light when receiving a call or during a call, and emit light from the exposed end surface portion 6d to display the light. Absent.

As described above, in the light guide 6 according to the present embodiment, light is emitted to the outside from the exposed end surface portion 6d where the end surface is exposed on the side surface and the end surface of the housing 1, so that only the liquid crystal display panel 2 and the operation keys 3 are used. In addition, the side surface and the end surface of the housing 1 can emit light, and the appearance design of the electronic device can be improved.
Therefore, in the electronic apparatus provided with the light guide 6, not only the illumination of the liquid crystal display panel 2 and the operation key 3 but also the side light emission or the edge light emission can be performed with a simple configuration, and the design can be improved.

In particular, since the exposed end surface portion 6d of the light guide 6 is used as the light emitting portion of the pilot lamp mechanism 19, it is not necessary to separately prepare and mount a pilot lamp such as an LED, thereby reducing member costs and assembly costs. In addition, the space for mounting the omitted pilot lamp member is not necessary, and the size and thickness can be further reduced.
In addition, since the whole light guide 6 is made into a film shape, the whole has flexibility, can be bent and bent, and can be mounted corresponding to a housing having various shapes and forms. .

  Next, second to fifth embodiments of the light guide and the electronic device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. In the following description of each embodiment, the same constituent elements described in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that, in the first embodiment, a light guide 6 including a panel light guide 6a for illuminating the liquid crystal display panel 2 and a key light guide 6b is provided. The exposed end surface portion 6d is disposed up to one end surface over almost the entire length of the side surface of the housing 1, whereas in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. The panel light guide part 26a that illuminates the panel 2 and the exposed end face part 6d provided on the side end face of the panel light guide part 26a.
That is, in the second embodiment, the exposed end surface portion 26d is arranged in the insertion hole portion 21a formed on the side surface of the casing 21 located on both sides of the liquid crystal display panel 2 so as to be shorter than the first embodiment. Is not emitted and can be emitted on both sides.

The difference between the third embodiment and the first embodiment is that, in the first embodiment, a light guide 6 including a panel light guide 6a for illuminating the liquid crystal display panel 2 and a key light guide 6b is provided. The exposed end face portion 6d is arranged up to one end face over almost the entire length of the side surface of the housing 1, whereas in the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 is composed of a key light guide portion 36b for illuminating 3 and an exposed end surface portion 36d provided on a side end surface of the key light guide portion 36b.
That is, in the third embodiment, the slit-like insertion hole 31a formed on the side surface of the casing 31 located on both sides of the liquid crystal display panel 2 is longer than the second embodiment and shorter than the first embodiment. An end face portion 36d is arranged so that light can be emitted from both side faces and end faces.

The difference between the fourth embodiment and the first embodiment is that in the first embodiment, the liquid crystal display panel 2 is provided with an exposed end surface portion 6d over substantially the entire length of the side surface of the housing 1 and the entire length of one end surface. On the other hand, in the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the light guide 46 is rectangular from the panel light guide 46a and the key light guide 46b that illuminate the liquid crystal display panel 2 and the operation key 3, respectively. And two exposed end surface portions 46d projecting in a rectangular shape from the key light guide portion 46b to the end surface opposite to the LED light source L.
That is, in the fourth embodiment, two insertion hole portions 41a are formed on both side surfaces of the casing 41, and one insertion hole portion 41a is formed on the end surface, and each exposed end surface portion 46d is inserted into these. Thus, a plurality of short exposed end surface portions 46d are arranged on the side surface and the end surface of the housing 41 with a space therebetween so that light emission is possible.

  The difference between the fifth embodiment and the first embodiment is that, in the first embodiment, a single light guide 6 is used and its end surface is an exposed end surface portion 6d, whereas in the fifth embodiment, FIG. 6, the light guide 56 is close to the light guide body 56A having the panel light guide 56a, the connection light guide 56c, and the key light guide 56b, and to the end face of the light guide body 56A. And a transparent or translucent translucent member 56B that is disposed opposite to the exposed end surface portion 6d.

That is, in the light guide 56 of the fifth embodiment, a U-shaped translucent member 56B is arranged on the outer periphery other than the side where the LED light source L of the rectangular light guide body 56A is arranged. The outer peripheral surface of the elastic member 56 </ b> B is exposed from the insertion hole 1 a of the housing 1 to the side surface and the end surface of the housing 1. The translucent member 56b is formed of a transparent or translucent acrylic resin or the like.
Therefore, in the fifth embodiment, the light transmitting body 56A is provided separately from the light guide body 56A, and enters the light from the end face of the light guide body 56A and guides the light to the outside as the exposed end face portion 6d. Since the member 56B is provided, the exposed end surface portion 6d of various shapes and colors can be obtained by adopting the translucent member 56B having a cross-sectional shape, thickness or color different from that of the light guide body 56A. . Further, the end face of the light guide body 56A can be protected by the translucent member 56B, and scratches can be prevented.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to said each embodiment, A various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the meaning of this invention.

  For example, in each of the above embodiments, a straight-type mobile phone having a rectangular parallelepiped housing 1 is adopted as an electronic device, but the present invention may be applied to other forms of electronic devices. For example, the present invention may be applied to a foldable mobile phone that can be opened and closed via a hinge portion and can be folded. In this case, by using a light guide that is entirely film-like, the light guide placed inside the housing can be flexibly bent or bent regardless of the opening / closing operation at the hinge portion. , The key light guide, and the exposed end surface can be guided.

Moreover, the sheet | seat which has the reflection function similar to the reflective sheet 11 may be installed in the both sides or one side of a connection light guide part and an exposed end surface part, and the improvement of light guide efficiency may be aimed at.
Further, as described above, the light guide is preferably a film as a whole, but may be a hard thin plate.

In each of the above embodiments, the diffusion sheet 9 is used, but a backlight unit in which the diffusion sheet 9 is omitted may be used. In addition, although two prism sheets are used, a backlight unit employing one prism sheet may be used.
In each of the above embodiments, the present invention is applied to a mobile phone. However, the present invention may be applied to other electronic devices. For example, the present invention can be applied to various electronic devices such as PDAs, mobile type PCs (personal computers), and portable game machines.

  In each of the above embodiments, the liquid crystal display panel 2 is adopted as the image display panel, but other image display panels may be used. For example, an image display panel such as electronic paper may be employed. In this case, the panel light guide in the light guide of the present invention is installed as a part of the front light unit on the surface side of the electronic paper body.

In 1st Embodiment of the light guide and electronic device which concern on this invention, it is a perspective view which shows a mobile telephone (electronic device) and a light guide. In 1st Embodiment, it is schematic sectional drawing which shows a mobile telephone (electronic device). In 2nd Embodiment of the light guide and electronic device which concern on this invention, it is a perspective view which shows a mobile telephone (electronic device) and a light guide. In 3rd Embodiment of the light guide and electronic device which concern on this invention, it is a perspective view which shows a mobile telephone (electronic device) and a light guide. In 4th Embodiment of the light guide and electronic device which concern on this invention, it is a perspective view which shows a mobile telephone (electronic device) and a light guide. In 5th Embodiment of the light guide and electronic device which concern on this invention, it is a perspective view which shows a mobile telephone (electronic device) and a light guide.

Explanation of symbols

  1, 2, 3, 4 ... casing, 1a, 21a, 31a, 41a ... insertion hole, 2 ... liquid crystal display panel (image display panel), 3 ... operation keys, 6, 26, 36, 46, 56 ... guide Light body, 6a, 26a, 46a, 56a ... Panel light guide, 6b, 36b, 46b, 56b ... Key light guide, 6c, 46c, 56c ... Connection light guide, 6d, 26d, 36d, 46d, 56d ... exposed end face part, 7 ... liquid crystal backlight unit, 8 ... key part, 9 ... diffusing sheet, 10A ... first prism sheet, 10B ... second prism sheet, 11 ... reflective sheet, 14 ... switching mechanism, 17 ... tact Switch, 19 ... Pilot lamp mechanism, 56A ... Light guide body, 56B ... Translucent member, L ... LED light source (light source)

Claims (5)

A light guide used in an electronic device in which at least one of an image display panel and operation keys is provided on a main surface surrounded by a side surface and an end surface of a housing,
A planar light guide that illuminates at least one of the image display panel and the operation key by converting an optical path of the guided light and emitting the planar light; and
An exposed end face portion that emits light guided to the outside with an end face exposed on at least one of a side face and an end face of the housing. The light guide according to claim 1,
A light guide characterized in that the whole is in the form of a film. The light guide according to claim 1 or 2,
A light guide body having the planar light guide,
A light guide comprising: a transparent or translucent translucent member disposed in opposition to the end face of the light guide body and serving as the exposed end face portion. An electronic device in which at least one of an image display panel and operation keys is provided on a main surface surrounded by a side surface and an end surface of a housing,
A light source;
An electronic apparatus comprising: the light guide according to any one of claims 1 to 3 that guides light from the light source incident thereon. The electronic device according to claim 4,
A pilot lamp mechanism that displays an arbitrary constant state by light emission from the light emitting unit,
The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exposed end surface portion is the light emitting portion.

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