Electrical connectors – Preformed panel circuit arrangement – e.g. – pcb – icm – dip,... – With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-22
2002-06-04
Sircus, Brian (Department: 7839)
Electrical connectors
Preformed panel circuit arrangement, e.g., pcb, icm, dip,...
With provision to conduct electricity from panel circuit to...
C439S496000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06398560
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of retaining a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device of portable electronic equipment and more particularly, to a retaining structure of an LCD device of portable electronic equipment such as cellular phones, pagers, and so on, which prevents an external mechanical stress from applying to the LCD device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there has been the surging need for portable electronic equipment such as mobile communications apparatuses. In particular, car phones, cellular phones, and pagers, which are intended to utilize the public communications service, have been extensively used by not only enterprises but also individuals.
The mobile communications apparatuses of this sort have been usually used for transmission and reception of voice or audio signals and reception of numerical information. However, more recently, they have been often used for reception of character data for the purpose of using various existing information services and of transmitting and receiving electronic mail (E-mail). Accordingly, to increase the displayable number of characters on the screen of a LCD assembly or device, the display area or screen size of the LCD device tends to become larger and larger.
On the other hand, there has been the successive need for making these portable electronic equipment more lightweight and more compact. Thus, recently, the dimensional ratio of the LCD device to the apparatus itself has been increasing more and more.
Usually, a semiconductor Integrated Circuit (IC) is electrically connected to the LCD device for driving this device and for controlling the display operation of the same. The driver IC is typically incorporated into a Tape Carrier Package (TCP). The TCP comprises a flexible tape, on which specific wiring lines and terminals connected to these lines are formed. The driver IC is mounted on the tape so as to be electrically connected to the wiring lines using bonding wires or the like, and is typically encapsulated by a plastic material. It is typical that the driver IC packaged in the form of the TCP is electrically and mechanically connected to the LCD device by a thermally-compressing bonding method using a so-called heat seal or an Anisotropic Conductive Film (ACF).
Moreover, to prevent the LCD device from being damaged or broken due to some mechanical stress caused by shock or some bending or twisting force applied to the case of the apparatus, the LCD device is positioned at a specific location in the communication apparatus by using a frame member. The frame member has an upper frame part surrounding the periphery of the LCD device, thereby forming a space for the LCD device. The LCD device is fitted into the space and as a result, it can be correctly positioned at the desired location. The frame member to which the LCD device is attached is typically mounted on a specific Printed Wring Board (PWB) having specific circuits required for communication.
When the LCD device and the TCP are mounted on the PWB, for the purpose of compactness, the TCP is bent at a specific position so as to be folded in two, thereby arranging them so that the LCD device is overlapped with the underlying driver IC mounted on the TCP. Thus, the LCD device is located on the frame member and at the same time, the driver IC is located on the PWB below the frame member. Because of this configuration, the frame member needs to have a U-shaped lower frame part to form a space between the frame member and the FWB for receiving the driver IC. Furthermore, the U-shaped lower frame part needs to have an opening for allowing the TCP connected to the LCD device to enter the space for the IC.
FIGS. 1
to
3
show a prior-art frame member used for mounting the LCD device on the PWB in a pager.
As shown in
FIGS. 1
to
3
, a frame member
140
has a rectangular-plate-shaped main part
144
, an upper frame part
141
formed on the upper periphery of the part
144
, a lower frame part
142
formed on the lower periphery of the part
144
, and four engaging pins
143
extending downward from the lower frame part
142
.
The main part
144
is used for supporting the LCD device and the upper frame part
141
is used for positioning the same thereon. In other words, the LCD device is located on the upper flat surface
144
e
of the main part
144
, and is fitted into an upper space S
101
formed by the main part
144
and the upper frame part
141
.
The upper frame part
141
has four walls
141
a,
141
b,
141
c,
and
14
l
d
located respectively on the four upper edges of the main part
144
and perpendicular to the same. The left, rear, and right walls
144
b,
144
c,
and
144
d
cover entirely the corresponding edges of the main part
141
, respectively. However, the front wall
144
a
has a rectangular opening or window
141
e
at its middle position, covering only the left and right sides of the edge of the main part
144
. Thus, it may be said that the upper frame part
141
has an approximately U-shape. The opening or window
141
e
is provided for allowing the TCP to enter the space S
101
through the front wall
141
a.
Similar to the upper frame part
141
, the lower frame part
142
has four walls
142
a,
142
b,
142
c,
and
142
d
located respectively on the four lower edges of the main part
144
and perpendicular to the same. The left, rear, and right walls
142
b,
142
c,
and
142
d
cover entirely the corresponding edges of the main part
144
, respectively. However, the front wall
142
a
has a rectangular opening or window
142
e
at its middle position, covering only the left and right sides of the edge of the main part
144
. The opening or window
142
e
is provided for allowing the TCP to enter a lower space S
102
formed by the main part
144
and the lower frame part
142
through the front wall
142
a,
where the space S
102
is used for receiving the driver IC mounted on the TCP.
The four engaging pins
143
are used for fixing the frame member
140
onto a specific PWB. The pins
143
are inserted into corresponding openings of the PWB and engaged therewith, thereby fixing the frame member
149
to the PWB.
The frame member
140
is typically made of a plastic or metal.
On the other hand, the LCD device is comprised of two glass plates fixed to be parallel to each other and a liquid crystal material confined in the intervening space between these two plates. Transparent electrodes, which are made of indium tin oxide (ITO), are formed on the inner surface of each of the plates. To electrically connect the electrodes to the TCP, part of the electrodes are exposed from the space.
With the prior-art frame member
140
, the following problem occurs. Specifically, the flat main part
144
cannot be directly contacted with the PWB because the lower space S
102
needs to be formed by the lower frame part
142
. At the same time as this, the whole periphery of the lower frame part
142
is unable to be supported by the PWB due to existence of the window
142
e.
Accordingly, the mechanical strength of the frame member
140
is insufficient in the vicinity of the window
142
e,
resulting in a problem that some flexure or deflection tends to be generated in the frame member
140
in the vicinity of the window
142
e.
The flexure or deflection thus generated in the frame member
140
will affect badly the LCD device mounted on the member
140
, thereby causing mechanical stress concentration in the LCD device near the window
142
e.
Because of the above-described configuration of the LCD device along with the mechanical stress concentration, cracks tend to be formed in the LCD device, making the user difficult or unable to see the displayed information on the screen or damaging the LCD device itself.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a LCD-device retaining structure of portable electronic equipment that increases the mechanical strength of a frame member for supporting an LCD device with a simple me
NEC Corporation
Nguyen Son V.
Scully Scott Murphy & Presser
Sircus Brian
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