Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-12
2001-10-16
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2841)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement
C174S267000, C361S773000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06303874
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an electronic part module and an electronic device, and, more particularly, to an electronic part module which is connected to a circuit board through a pin terminal, and an electronic device including the electronic part module.
BACKGROUND ART
Various electronic devices, such as liquid crystal displays and printers, employ various electronic parts, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, an electronic print element (such as a thermal printer head), or an optical sensor.
In general, such electronic parts need to be electrically connected to a circuit board, such as a printed board. A connecting means, for connecting the electronic part to the circuit board, and the electronic part that is connected form an electronic part module. Various connecting means have been conventionally proposed for use, one of which is the pin terminal.
An example of a conventionally known electronic part module using a pin terminal is shown in FIG.
9
. (Refer to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 1-206317.) The liquid crystal display module
100
comprises a liquid crystal panel
101
, formed by filling liquid crystal in the space between two glass or film bases, and a pin terminal
80
which is mounted to the liquid crystal panel
101
. The pin terminal
80
has a clip-shaped base end portion
80
A and a front end portion
80
B which extends from the base end portion
80
A. The base end portion
80
A is mounted to the liquid crystal panel
101
by fitting it to the portion of the liquid crystal panel
101
where the input terminal
102
is formed.
The front end portion
80
B of the pin terminal
80
is disposed outwardly of the outer peripheral edge of the liquid crystal panel
101
. When the front end portion
80
B is joined to the circuit board
103
by soldering, the liquid crystal display module
100
, used as the electronic part module, is mounted to the base
103
. In the liquid crystal display module
100
using pin terminal
80
, the pin terminal
80
can be easily connected by soldering. Therefore, such liquid crystal display modules are, in recent years, becoming widely used.
Liquid crystal display modules are, in general, being widely used as information display devices in various electronic devices, such as portable telephones or small information devices. In order to make such electronic devices easier to carry around, it is necessary to make them smaller. On the other hand, in order to increase the amount of data which can be displayed on the liquid crystal display screen, it is necessary to make the screen larger. Thus, there is a demand for electronic devices in which other parts (such as a speaker if the electronic device is a portable telephone), disposed adjacent to the liquid crystal display module, can be disposed closer to the liquid crystal module.
However, the conventional display module
100
of
FIG. 9
cannot respond to this demand. The space at the circuit board
103
must be located at the outer side of the liquid crystal display module
100
in order to allow soldering of the front end portion
80
B of the pin terminal
80
to the circuit board
103
, so that extra space must be provided at the circuit board
103
.
This problem occurs not only in liquid crystal display modules, but also in other types of electronic part modules, such as electronic print element modules and optical sensor modules.
In view of the above-described problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic part module which allows the use of a minimum amount of space for mounting an electronic part module to a circuit board so that efficient use of space can be realized and an electronic device using such an electronic part module.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To this end, according to the present invention, there is provided an electronic part module in which a base end portion of a pin terminal is joined to an input terminal of an electronic part, wherein a front end portion of the pin terminal is disposed inwardly of the outer peripheral edge of the electronic part.
According to the electronic part module, the front end portion of the pin terminal is disposed inwardly of the outer peripheral edge of the electronic part, so that the portion where the pin terminal is connected to the circuit board by soldering is provided at the back of the electronic part. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate any portions that protrude outwardly of the electronic part, or to reduce the area of any protruding portion.
Accordingly, it is possible to minimize the amount of space at the circuit board, which is required to mount the electronic part module thereto, to about the size based on the size of the electronic part itself. This allows efficient use of space.
Preferably, the pin terminal is made of a springy material, such as springy phosphor bronze. This allows the base end portion of the pin terminal to be joined to the electronic part by the spring force of the base end portion, thereby making it unnecessary to use solder or other joining materials.
Ordinarily, a plurality of pin terminals are provided. Various electronic circuit parts (that is chip parts), containing resistors or capacitors, may be mounted at predetermined pin terminals (or between predetermined pin terminals) of the plurality of pin terminals. When electronic circuit parts are mounted to pin terminals, it becomes unnecessary to mount these parts to the circuit board, thereby allowing efficient use of space accordingly.
When the electronic module is one in which an electronic circuit part, such as an IC, is mounted to the electronic part, as in a COG (chip-on-glass) type liquid crystal display module in which a liquid crystal driver IC is mounted to the liquid crystal panel, the mounting locations of the electronic circuit part and pin terminals may be shifted in a direction of extension of an edge of the electronic part where the pin terminals are mounted. In this case, the mounting locations of the electronic circuit part, such as an IC, and the pin terminals do not overlap, making it possible to reduce the amount of extension of the electronic part, so that the electronic circuit part and the pin terminals can be arranged with greater efficiency.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic device comprising the above-described electronic part module, and a circuit board having mounted thereto the electronic part module. The front end of each pin terminal is bent inwardly of the outer peripheral edge of the electronic part in order to be mounted to the circuit board.
In the electronic device, the front end of the pin terminal mounted to the electronic part module may be joined to the glass substrate by inserting the front end of the pin terminal into a through hole provided at the circuit substrate with, for example, soldering. Here, the through hole may either be an electrically conductive through hole used for electrically connecting a multilayered wiring layer, or an electrically nonconductive through hole having provided thereat a solder land.
In the electronic device comprising the above-described electronic module and a circuit board which is connected to the electronic part module, electronic part side connector may be provided on the electronic part side and a circuit substrate side connector may be provided on the circuit substrate side. Then, these connectors are connected together to join the electronic part and the circuit board. When the present invention is applied to such an electronic device, the pin terminals and the circuit board are joined together by joining the front end of the pin terminals of the electronic part module to the connector of the electronic part and fitting the connector of the electronic part module into the connector of the circuit board.
The form and structure of the pin terminal may be selected in accordance with the structure of the electronic device.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4647126 (1987-03-01), Sobota, Jr.
patent: 5442134 (1995-08-01), Miyazaki et al.
patent: 5484964 (1996-01-01), Dawson et
Gaffin Jeffrey
Harness & Dickey & Pierce P.L.C.
Norris Jeremy
Seiko Epson Corporation
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