Portable Information Terminal

The present invention relates to a mobile phone terminal, more specifically, a mobile information terminal such as a mobile phone terminal that can be transformed during carrying and use, a mobile game device, and a palm-sized personal computer.

Various forms of mobile information terminals such as mobile phone terminals have been developed for the purpose of making them more compact when they are carried than when they are used. Typical examples include the so-called "shell type" that adopts a structure similar to the form in which bivalves close and open, and the "slide type" in which the upper housing slides with respect to the lower housing.

As an example of a slide-type mobile phone, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is illustrated in FIG. That is, it is a slide-type mobile phone in which an upper housing 1 having a display unit 3 and a receiving unit 4 and a lower housing 2 having an operating unit 5 and a transmitting unit 6 are slidably connected.

As shown in FIG. 13A, when the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 are closed, the display unit 3 and the earpiece 4 of the upper housing 1 are exposed, and the operation unit 5 of the lower housing 2 and the operation unit 5 are exposed. The transmitter 6 is covered by the upper housing 1. Further, as shown in FIG. 13B, when the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 are opened, the display unit 3 and the earpiece 4 of the upper housing 1 and the operation unit 5 and the transmission unit of the lower housing 2 are opened. Both 6 are exposed.

As shown in FIG. 13B, the dimensions in the slide direction are L1 for the upper housing 1 and L2 for the lower housing 2, and L3 when the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 are opened. , L1 and L2, minus the dimension L4 of the overlapping part.

<patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-93999 (Fig. 2)</text></patcit>

<p> As mentioned above, the smaller the size of L4, the better. This is because the area of the operation unit 5 can be increased without increasing the size when carried. Further, it is desirable that the display unit 3 and the operation unit 5 are flush with each other (flat). In the technique described in Patent Document 1, the end portion of the upper housing 1 on the operation unit 5 side is chamfered to reduce the step. However, problems such as difficulty in operating the keys located near the upper housing 1 in the operation unit 5 have not been a fundamental solution.</p><p> An object of the present invention is to provide a slide-type mobile information terminal capable of substantially expanding the operation surface and display surface of the mobile information terminal.</p>

<p> In the mobile information terminal according to the present invention, a flat plate-shaped first housing, a flat plate-shaped second housing stacked on the first housing, and the first housing and the second housing are overlapped. A slide provided with a slide mechanism for maintaining the carrying state and a rotating mechanism for changing the state from the carrying state to the state of use through a sliding state in which the first housing and the second housing slide each other. It relates to a mobile information terminal of the type. The slide mechanism includes a slide groove formed in the slide direction in the first housing, a slide support member formed so as to slide in the slide groove and not to protrude from the slide groove, and an anti-slide groove in the slide support member. The first slide mechanism provided with the first fixing member whose side is pivotally supported by the second housing, the thick groove for slide formed on the surface of the second housing on the side of the first housing, and the inside of the thick groove for slide. It is formed with a second slide mechanism provided with a housing rotating member that slides the housing. The rotation mechanism includes the housing rotation member, and a first rotation control member that pivotally supports the counter-sliding thick groove side of the housing rotation member to the first housing. It is formed by including a second rotation control member which is on the opposite side of the housing rotation member from the first rotation control member and which pivotally supports the second housing so as to be rotatable. In the state of use, the first rotation control member and the second rotation control member have a surface on the second housing side of the first housing and a surface on the side opposite to the first housing side of the second housing. It is provided with a rotation angle limiting mechanism that stops rotation at one angle. It is a mobile information terminal as described above.</p><p> When carrying, the lower housing (first housing) and the upper housing (second housing) rationally overlap, and when in use, it is possible to provide a mobile information terminal that achieves a substantial expansion of the operation surface and display surface. ..</p><p> The rotation angle limiting mechanism can stop rotation in a state in which the longitudinal direction of the vertical cross section of the first housing and the housing rotating member form a predetermined angle in the carrying state and the sliding state. Further, it can be formed so that the rotation can be stopped in a state where the longitudinal direction of the vertical cross section of the second housing and the housing rotating member form a predetermined angle.</p><p> As for the first slide mechanism, two sets of portable information terminals provided in the first housing are rational in terms of functional design. The first slide mechanism is simpler than the second slide mechanism, and it is easy to provide a plurality of the first slide mechanism. However, there is little need for two or more, and one may not stabilize the movement of the slide. Therefore, two sets are rational.</p><p> The slide groove in the first slide mechanism can provide a portable information terminal formed on the surface of the first housing on the side of the second housing. In this case, it is possible to design an external shape in which the slide mechanism does not protrude to the outside of the portable information terminal. Therefore, it becomes compact when carried.</p><p> It is also possible to provide a portable information terminal characterized in that the slide groove in the first slide mechanism is formed on the side surface of the first housing. In this case, since the surface of the first housing on the second housing side can be widely used, it is possible to rationally arrange the operation keys and the like.</p><p> It is also possible to provide a mobile information terminal in which the plane shapes of the first housing and the second housing are formed to be substantially the same. In this case, it is possible to provide the most compact mobile information terminal at the time of carrying.</p><p> The housing rotating member is provided with a cable space which is an internal space reaching the first housing and the second housing, and the cable space is a substrate built in the first housing and a second housing. It is possible to provide a portable information terminal characterized in that cables for connecting a substrate built in the space are formed so as to be built-in. Even if the cables that connect the board built in the first housing and the board built in the second housing are serial cables, it is relatively easy to secure space, and it should be rationally built in. Can be done.</p>

<p> The mobile information terminal according to the present invention employs a slide-type mechanism in which there is no overlapping portion between the upper housing (second housing) and the lower housing (first housing) when used, so that the operation surface and display can be displayed. It has the effect of achieving a substantial expansion of the surface, making it easy to use when using it, and making it compact when carrying it.</p>

Hereinafter, a mobile phone terminal will be described as an example of the mobile information terminal according to the present invention with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, a mobile phone terminal is taken as an example, but of course, the content described here is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to the mobile phone terminal. For example, it can be applied to mobile personal computers, mobile game devices, PDAs (Personal Data Assistants), digital cameras, digital video cameras, and the like.

[Outline configuration of mobile phone terminal] Figures A to G in Fig. 1 show how the slide-type mobile phone terminal changed its form from when it was carried to when it was used. As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment mainly includes a first housing 10 having an operation surface 15 mainly equipped with operation buttons and the like, and an output surface 25 and the like by a liquid crystal display device and the like. It also has a second housing 20. For the user of the mobile phone terminal according to the present embodiment, the first housing 10 is located at the bottom and the second housing 20 is located at the top.

When the operation surface 15 is invisible and the output surface 25 is exposed, the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 are overlapped with each other in a portable state, and the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 are slid to each other. The slide support member 30 can realize a sliding state in which the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 are in surface positions by rotating the slide support member 30 so as not to overlap each other. And the housing rotation support member 40 is provided. The slide support member 30 is located on both sides of the first housing 10, and the housing rotation support member 40 is located at the center of the first housing 10.

Further, in order to maintain a smooth sliding state without surface contact between the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 in the sliding state, the surface of the first housing 10 on the second housing 20 side has a first surface. It is equipped with two housing support rollers 60. The lengths of the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 in the sliding direction are the same as those of the first housing 10 and the second housing 20. Therefore, the slide direction dimension when overlapped is the most compact.

The surface of the first housing 10 on which the operation buttons and the like are mainly mounted is referred to as the operation surface 15, and the surface of the second housing 20 on which the output screen is exposed is referred to as the output surface 25. In the state of carrying (before sliding), the entire operation surface 15 of the first housing 10 is hidden (FIG. 1A), but in the state of use (after sliding), the operation surface 15 of the first housing 10 is hidden. Is exposed on the entire surface (Fig. 1G). The feature is that the operation surface 15 can be secured larger than that of the conventional technology.

[Planar configuration of mobile phone terminal] FIG. 2 shows a mobile phone terminal according to the first embodiment. The first housing 10 includes an operation surface 15 of a so-called full keyboard, and the second housing 20 includes operation keys such as a liquid crystal output surface 15, a speaker 22, a microphone 23, and a cross key 24. The size of the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 in the plane direction is a rectangle having substantially the same size. The short side direction of the rectangle is the slide direction.

The operation surface 15 of the first housing 10 is provided with slide grooves 19 along both ends of the short side. A slide support member 30 having an oval plate shape is fixed to the slide groove 19 so as to be slidable. The second housing 20 is rotatably fixed to the side of the slide support member 30 opposite to the slide groove 19.

The surface of the second housing 20 opposite to the display surface 25 is provided with a thick groove 21 for sliding along the sliding direction at the center in the long side direction. A housing rotating member 40 having a width dimension matching the groove width is fixed to the slide thick groove 21 so as to be slidable. The first housing 10 is fixed so as to be rotatable on the side of the housing rotating member 40 opposite to the thick groove 21 for sliding.

[Sliding action] With the above configuration, the second housing 20 can slide the slide groove 19 with respect to the first housing 10 via the slide support member 30. At the same time, the thick groove 21 for sliding can be slid through the housing rotating member 40. That is, the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 slide while being supported by three points forming a triangle by the slide groove 19 and the slide thick groove 21 on both sides. At this time, the second housing support rollers 60, 60 rotate while being in contact with the surface of the second housing 20 opposite to the output surface 25, thereby realizing a smooth slide.

FIG. 3 (A) shows the sliding state, and FIG. 3 (B) shows the carrying state. As shown in this figure, the slide state is supported at three points by the housing rotating member 40 in the center and the two slide support members 30 on both sides, from the carrying state to the using state and during use. Achieve a state change from state to mobile state. When the user applies an external force for sliding, even if the direction of the external force does not completely match the sliding direction, the three-point support is provided, so that a stable sliding state can be maintained.

[From slide to rotation] FIG. 4 shows the housing rotating member 40 when the sliding state is finished and the state changes to the in-use state, together with the first housing 10 and the second housing 20. FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view showing just before the sliding state ends and the rotation starts, that is, the state changes to the state at the time of use. FIG. 4 (B) shows the state during rotation, and FIG. 4 (C) shows the end of rotation, that is, the state during use. The first rotation control shaft member 45 and the second rotation control shaft member 50 in the housing rotation member 40 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 below. Note that FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 (A) as viewed from the right.

[Fig. 5] In the cross-sectional position shown in FIG. 5, the first housing 10 is provided with slide grooves 19, 19 on both sides and a housing rotation member recess 17 in the center, and the slide grooves 19, 19 and the housing rotation member are provided. The recess 17 is opened upward in the drawing. In addition, the board 70 shown by the imaginary line is built-in. The second housing 20 is provided with rotating recesses 27 and 27 on both sides and a rotating recess 29 (the end of the thick groove 21 for sliding) in the center, and the rotating recesses 27 and 27 and the rotating recess 29 are shown in the drawing. It opens downward. It also has a built-in board 70a shown by the imaginary line.

[Slide support member 30] The slide support member 30 will be described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 which is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the slide support member 30. The vicinity of the upper end of the slide support member 30 is pivotally supported by the first fixing pin 31 in the rotating recess 27 of the second housing 20. On the other hand, near the lower end of the slide support member 30, the slide pulley 33 is pivotally supported inside the first housing 10 by the second fixing pin 32. The slide pulley 33 has a flange shape, and is fitted into the pulley support portion 11 which is a ridge formed inside the slide groove 19 in the first housing 10. As a result, the slide support member 30 can move in the longitudinal direction of the slide groove 19 while supporting the second housing 20.

[Case rotating member 40] The housing rotating member 40 will be described with reference to FIG. 5, FIG. 7 which is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the housing rotating member 40, and FIG. 8 which is an assembly perspective view. The housing rotating member 40 has an oval cross-sectional shape in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 5, and includes a rotating shaft support convex portion 41 near the lower left of the paper surface in FIG. In order to support the rotating shaft support convex portion 41, the first housing 10 is provided with a housing rotating member recess 18. The housing rotating member 40 is a housing whose inside is a space. That is, the cable space 40a for accommodating the cable 80 connecting the boards 70 and 70a is used as the internal space thereof.

The vicinity of the lower end of the housing rotating member 40 is pivotally supported with respect to the first housing 10 by the rotating shaft support convex portion 41 and the first rotation control shaft member 45. The first rotation control shaft member 45 is formed by a first support disk 43 for fixing to the housing rotation member 40 and pivotally supporting the first rotation control shaft member 45, and the first support disk 43 thereof. It is provided with a first disk holding ring 46 whose rotation angle is controlled.

On the other hand, in the vicinity of the upper end of the housing rotation member 40, the second rotation control shaft member 50 is pivotally supported, and the second rotation control shaft member 50 pivotally supports the second disk holding ring 51. The two-disk holding ring 51 supports the donut pulley 52. The donut pulley 52 has a flange shape and is fitted to a pulley support portion 28 which is a convex strip provided on the second housing 20. As a result, the housing rotating member 40 can slide the second housing 20. For the convenience of incorporating the first rotation control shaft member 45 and the second rotation control shaft member 50, the first rotation control shaft member 45 is placed at an appropriate position on the surface opposite to the rotation shaft support convex portion 41. It is provided with an opening 40b for supporting the second rotation control shaft member 50 and an opening 40c for supporting the second rotation control shaft member 50, respectively.

[Rotation control mechanism] In this embodiment, a rotation control mechanism for achieving the rotation state as shown in FIG. 4 is provided. This rotation control mechanism holds the state shown in FIG. 4 (C), that is, rotates more than the state in which the operation surface 15 of the first housing 10 and the output surface of the second housing 20 are flush with each other. It is a mechanism to prevent it. This rotation control mechanism is achieved by the first rotation control shaft member 45 and the second rotation control shaft member 50.

As shown in FIG. 8, the first support disk 43 for axially supporting the first rotation control shaft member 45 is a donut having a hole for inserting and supporting the first rotation control shaft member 45. It forms a shaped disk. Further, on the surface opposite to the housing rotating member 40, two quarter arc grooves 43a, which are grooves along a quarter arc, are provided facing each other. The end of each quadrant groove 43a is a hemispherical hole 43b, which is a hemispherical hole slightly deeper than the groove depth.

The first disk holding ring 46 inserted into the first rotation control shaft member 45 meshes with such a first support disk 43. That is, the first disk holding ring 46 forming the donut-shaped disk is provided with a hemispherical convex portion 46a that fits into the hemispherical hole 43b. As shown in FIG. 7, the first disc holding ring 46 is formed by a coil spring 47, a washer 48, and a spring holding ring 49 wound around a flange portion of the first rotation control shaft member 45 to support the first disc 43. It is urged in the direction of. The rotation start position and rotation end position are controlled so that the hemispherical convex portion 46a of the first disk holding ring 46 fits into the hemispherical hole 43b of the first disk holding ring 46 so that further rotation does not occur. are doing. When the hemispherical hole 43b that has been fitted is removed and the hemispherical hole 43b on the opposite side is headed toward the hemispherical hole 43b on the opposite side, a click feeling is generated because the discontinuity to the quadrant arc groove 43a is overcome.

The structure of the second rotation control shaft member 50 is almost the same as that of the first rotation control shaft member 45, and the difference is that the donut pulley 52 can be pivotally supported. That is, the second support disk 44 is a donut-shaped disk having a hole for inserting and supporting the second rotation control shaft member 50. Further, on the surface opposite to the housing rotating member 40, two quarter arc grooves 44a, which are grooves along a quarter arc, are provided facing each other. The end of each quadrant groove 44a is a hemispherical hole 44b, which is a hemispherical hole slightly deeper than the groove depth.

A second disk holding ring 51 inserted into the second rotation control shaft member 50 meshes with such a second support disk 44. That is, the second disk holding ring 51 forming the donut-shaped disk is provided with a hemispherical convex portion 46a that fits into the hemispherical hole 43b. As shown in FIG. 7, the second disk holding ring 51 is formed by the coil spring 53, washer 54, and spring holding ring 55 wound around the flange of the second rotation control shaft member 50 to support the first support disk 43. It is urged in the direction of. The rotation start position and rotation end position are controlled so that the hemispherical convex portion 51a of the second disk holding ring 51 fits into the hemispherical hole 44b of the second disk holding ring 44 so that further rotation does not occur. are doing. When the hemispherical hole 44b that has been fitted is removed and the hemispherical hole 44b on the opposite side is headed toward the hemispherical hole 44b on the opposite side, the discontinuity to the quadrant arc groove 44a is overcome, so that a click feeling is generated.

[Mobile information terminal] FIG. 9 shows a plan view when the present invention is applied to a mobile information terminal such as a mobile game device or a PDA (Personal Data Assistant) instead of a mobile phone terminal. The second embodiment is shown in FIG. 9 (A). That is, as the first housing, a keyboard housing 10a equipped with a full keyboard on the operation surface is adopted, and as the second housing, a mobile information terminal adopting a display screen housing 20a having almost the entire output surface. is there. Although it is an embodiment that is easy to adopt mainly for PDAs, it can also be adopted for mobile phone terminals by making a part of the output screen a patch panel type or adopting operation buttons on the side of the housing. Is.

FIG. 9B shows the third embodiment. That is, both the first housing and the second housing have a liquid crystal display screen, and the first housing is a patch panel type touch panel housing 10b that also serves as an input device as needed, and the second housing is also input as needed. It is a patch panel type touch panel housing 20b that doubles as a device. Although it is an embodiment that is easy to adopt mainly for game machines, it can be used for mobile phone terminals and PDAs by making a part of the output screen a patch panel type and adopting operation buttons on the side of the housing. Can also be adopted.

[Variations of slide mechanism] FIG. 10 shows a fourth embodiment. There are two main differences from the conventional embodiments. The first point is that the housing rotating member (40), which is provided with only one in the vicinity of the center in the first embodiment, is provided in two places near the center as the housing rotating members 90 and 90. This is effective when the size of the mobile information terminal shown in FIG. 10 (A) in the vertical direction of the paper surface is large. It is also effective for the design of the thick groove (21) for slides in the second housing 20 and when it is desired to substantially increase the cable space 40a.

The second point is that the slide groove (19) provided in the first housing 10 is provided on the side surface of the first housing 10 instead of being provided on the operation surface 15 side of the first housing 10. is there. It is used when you want to increase the actual area of the operation surface 15 or when you want to improve the design of the operation surface 15. It is also effective when a design that allows the slide mechanism and rotation control mechanism to be visually recognized is required.

[Variations of housing dimensions] FIG. 11 shows a fifth embodiment. The difference from the embodiments described so far is that the dimensions in the slide direction and the dimensions in the thickness direction are different between the first housing 10 and the second housing 20. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the size of the first housing 10 in the slide direction is smaller than that of the second housing 20, and the thickness of the first housing 10 is thinner than that of the second housing 20. Although not shown, the dimensions in the vertical direction of the paper surface may be different between the first housing 10 and the second housing 20.

[Variations of rotation control mechanism] FIG. 12 shows a sixth embodiment. In the embodiments described so far, the angle formed by the longitudinal direction of the slide support member 30 and the housing rotating member 40 and the longitudinal direction of the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 is 90 in the portable state and the sliding state. It was a degree. Further, in the used state, the angle formed by the longitudinal direction of the slide support member 30 and the housing rotating member 40 and the longitudinal direction of the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 was 0 degrees (parallel). However, as shown in FIG. 12, the angle formed by the longitudinal direction of the slide support member 30 and the housing rotating member 40 and the longitudinal direction of the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 is specified as 90 degrees or 0 degrees. I'm not. It is sufficient that the rotation control mechanism functions so that the first housing 10 and the second housing 20 maintain the carrying state and the sliding state, or do not rotate more than necessary in the using state.

The above description of the embodiment is an example of the present invention. Therefore, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes can be made according to the design and the like as long as the technical idea of the present invention is not deviated. Absent.

<figref num="1">It is a cross-sectional view which shows the movement of the mobile information terminal which is 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is a top view which shows the mobile information terminal which is 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="3">It is a top view which shows the movement of the mobile information terminal which is 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="4">It is a partially enlarged sectional view which shows the movement of the mobile information terminal which is 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="5">It is sectional drawing of the main part of the mobile information terminal which is 1st Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="6">It is a partially enlarged view of the main part shown in FIG.</figref><figref num="7">It is a partially enlarged view of the main part shown in FIG.</figref><figref num="8">It is an assembly perspective view of the main part shown in FIG.</figref><figref num="9">It is a top view which shows the mobile information terminal which is 2nd and 3rd Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="10">It is a top view which shows the mobile information terminal which is 4th Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="11">It is a cross-sectional view which shows the mobile information terminal which is 5th Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="12">It is a cross-sectional view which shows the mobile information terminal which is the 6th Embodiment which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="13">It is a perspective view which shows the prior art.</figref>

Code description

10 1st housing, 10a keyboard housing, 10b touch panel housing, 11 pulley support, 15 operation surface, 17 housing rotating member recess, 18 rotating shaft support recess, 19 slide groove, 20 second housing Body, 20a display screen housing, 20b touch panel housing, 21 thick groove for slide, 22 speaker, 23 microphone, 24 cross key, 25 output surface, 27 recess for rotation, 28 pulley support, 29 recess for rotation, 30, 30a slide support member, 31 first fixing pin, 32 second fixing pin, 33 slide pulley, 40 housing rotating member, 40a cable space, 40b, 40c opening, 41 rotating shaft support convex part, 43 first support Disk, 43a quadrant groove, 43b hemispherical hole, 44 second support disk, 44a quadrant arc groove, 44b hemispherical hole, 45 first rotation control shaft member, 46 first disk holding ring, 46a hemispherical convex Part, 47 Coil spring, 48 Washer, 49 Spring restraint ring, 50 Second rotation control shaft member, 51 Second disc restraint ring, 51a Hemispherical convex part, 51b Circumferential rail part, 52 Donut pulley, 53 Coil spring, 54 washer, 55 spring restraining ring, 60 second housing support roller, 70,70a board, 80 cable, 90 housing rotating member