Electric lamp and discharge devices – With luminescent solid or liquid material – Solid-state type
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-07
2001-03-27
Patel, Ashok (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With luminescent solid or liquid material
Solid-state type
C313S513000, C313S051000, C345S082000, C345S206000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06208078
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device comprising a plurality of light sources such as LED's disposed in a predetermined pattern for displaying a symbol such as a numeral or a character by turning on selected light sources. Further, the present invention relates to a display device assembly comprising a plurality of the above display devices mounted on a mother board.
2. Background Art
Conventional display devices of the above type include a seven-segment LED display device in which seven, bar-shaped, light emitting elements are disposed in a pattern of a numeric
FIG. 8
for displaying a desired numeral. Also included is an eight-segment LED display device which is a seven-segment device added with another light emitting element representing a decimal point. Further included is a dot-matrix type LED display device in which a plurality of dots each made of a light emitting element are disposed in a matrix pattern for displaying a symbol such as a numeral or a character. Each of these display devices is mounted on a mother board, and is supplied with electric power through the mother board. Conventionally, mounting of these display devices is made as follows for example.
Specifically, referring now to
FIG. 4
, when a display device
1
has outer edges formed with a plurality of terminals
10
each connected to one of the light sources, each of the terminals
10
is bonded to a terminal portion formed on the mother board by soldering. More specifically, each of the terminals
10
of the display device
1
or each of the terminal portions on the mother board is coated with solder in advance, and then, the display device
1
is aligned with and lowered on the mother board. Next, the solder is re-melted, and then cooled to set, completing the mounting of the display device
1
to the mother board.
Now, in order to display a plurality of numerals or characters simultaneously, a plurality of the display devices must be disposed in a line and/or row. In such a case, each of the display devices
1
should be disposed as closely to adjacent display devices as possible so that the plurality of the numerals or characters do not appear too far away from each other giving a poor look.
There is a problem, however. Specifically, when using the display device
1
in which the plurality of terminals
10
are formed along the outer edge portions, solder portions
11
stay extended out of the outer edge portions in each of the display devices
1
. For this reason, as shown in
FIG. 5
, each display device
1
must be spaced from another by a certain distance. Since it is impossible to dispose the display devices
1
closely to each other, it is impossible to make an outer edge of one display device
1
abut on an opposing outer edge of an adjacent display device
1
.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a display device comprising a plurality of light sources for displaying a symbol such as a numeral or a character by turning on selected light sources, which can be mounted more adjacent to another.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a display device having a following arrangement is provided.
Specifically, the display device performs a display by turning on selected ones of a plurality of light sources, and comprises
a substrate having an upper surface disposed with the light sources,
a reflecting case mounted to the substrate and provided with a plurality of window holes each corresponding to one of the light sources, and
lower surface terminal portions each provided in a lower surface of the substrate and electrically connected to one of the light sources.
Further, the lower surface terminal portions are disposed in a region inward of outer edges of the substrate.
According to a preferred embodiment, each of the window holes of the reflecting case is filled with a transparent or translucent resin.
According to the preferred embodiment, the lower surface of the substrate is further formed with matching pins.
According to the preferred embodiment, the light sources are disposed in a matrix pattern on the substrate.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display device assembly comprising a plurality of the display devices of the above arrangement. The plurality of display devices are mounted closely to each other laterally and/or longitudinally on a mother board.
Other features and advantages of the present invention should become clear from descriptions to be made below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3246193 (1966-04-01), Dickson, Jr. et al.
patent: 4146883 (1979-03-01), Appeldorn et al.
patent: 5457356 (1995-10-01), Parodos
patent: 5621225 (1997-04-01), Shieh et al.
patent: 5780321 (1998-07-01), Shieh et al.
patent: 09092888 (1997-04-01), None
Fujii Takehiro
Ishinaga Hiroki
Guharay Karabi
Merchant & Gould P.C.
Patel Ashok
Rohm & Co., Ltd.
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