Electricity: circuit makers and breakers – Special application – Actuated concurrently with operation or use of art device
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-20
2003-11-04
Friedhofer, Michael (Department: 2832)
Electricity: circuit makers and breakers
Special application
Actuated concurrently with operation or use of art device
C361S689000, C379S433020, C379S434000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06642462
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lid open/close detection device used for folding portable electronic equipment such as a portable telephone or a notebook type personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In portable electronic equipment such as a portable telephone and a notebook-type personal computer, to enlarge a display screen and a key inputting part and to reduce a profile size of the equipment, folding equipment which forms a display screen on a lid body and can fold the lid body to a body side when the equipment is not used has been demanded and equipment which can meet such a demand has been popularly commercialized.
In such a situation, to detect whether the lid body is in a folded state or in an opened state, among conventional equipment, there has been known equipment which detects the open/close operation by manipulating a projection formed in the lid body such that the projection pushes a push button switch disposed in the inside of the equipment through an opening formed in the equipment or equipment which detects the open/close operation by making a magnet mounted on the lid body approach or move away from a proximity switch mounted in the inside of the equipment.
Here, the structure of a flip open/close device of a conventional portable telephone set is shown in FIG.
7
and FIG.
8
. That is,
FIG. 7
shows the structure which detects the opening and closing of the lid body in response to the operation of a push button switch. A casing
100
which constitutes a body is provided with a plurality of key switches
101
,
101
which constitute a key inputting part. Further, in a left upper surface side of the casing
100
, an opening
100
a
for manipulation of a push button switch is formed. At a position in the inside of the casing
100
corresponding to the opening
100
a
, a push button switch not shown in the drawing is provided.
On the upper surface side of the casing
100
, a lid body
103
is rotatably mounted by way of a hinge portion not shown in the drawing. A display screen
104
formed of liquid crystal or the like is disposed at the center of the lid body
103
. Further, on the left lower surface side of the lid body
103
, a projection
103
a
for manipulating the push button switch is formed. Further, an antenna
105
is provided to a right upper end side of the lid body
103
.
The state shown in
FIG. 7
is a state in which the lid body
103
is opened for use. In this state, the push button switch disposed in the inside of the casing
100
is not yet pushed. When the lid body
103
is closed from the current state upon completion of use, the projection
103
a
which is formed on the lid body
103
is inserted into the opening
100
a
of the casing
100
so as to push the push button switch whereby the closure of the lid body
103
can be detected.
FIG. 8
shows a structure which detects the opening and closing of the lid body using a proximity switch. In this case, in a casing
100
at the left lower surface side, a proximity switch (lead switch)
107
is disposed. Further, on the left upper surface side of a lid body
103
and at a position corresponding to the proximity switch
107
, a magnet
108
for manipulating the proximity switch
107
is disposed.
The use state shown in
FIG. 8
is a state in which the proximity switch
107
is not yet manipulated. When the lid body
103
is closed from this state upon completion of use, the magnet
108
provided to the lid body
103
is made to approach the proximity switch
107
so that the proximity switch
107
is manipulated and the closure of the lid body
103
is detected.
However, with respect to the structure of the above-mentioned conventional lid open/close detection device, these structures can only detect whether the lid body
103
has pushed or approached the push button switch or the proximity switch
107
disposed in the inside of the casing
100
. That is, these structures can only detect the folded state in which the lid body
103
covers the upper surface of the casing
100
and hence, there has been a problem that these structures cannot detect a state in which the lid body
103
is completely opened or an arbitrary angle which the lid body
103
takes with respect to the casing
100
in the course of the movement thereof from the folded state to the fully opened state.
Further, since it is necessary to ensure a space for disposing the switch in the inside of the lid body
103
or the casing
100
, there has been a problem that it is difficult to make the electronic equipment have a thin thickness.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a lid open/close detection device of portable electronic equipment which can solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, can detect a state in which a lid body of electronic equipment is opened at an arbitrary angle and, at the same time, can make the electronic equipment have a thin thickness.
To solve the above-mentioned tasks of the conventional electronic equipment, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in portable electronic equipment which includes a casing, a lid body which is rotatably supported on the casing, a hinge member which is formed by mounting a frame body on one of the lid body and the casing and by making a shaft body projected from the frame body rotatably support the other of the lid body and the casing, and a switch which detects rotation of the lid body, the switch is formed of an individual rotary switch which accommodates a rotary manipulation body having a hollow shaft hole, a movable contact which is integrally rotated with the rotary manipulation body and a stationary contact which is brought into slide contact with the movable contact inside a housing, wherein the shaft body of the hinge member is inserted into the hollow shaft hole of the rotary manipulation body, and wherein rotation of the lid body is detected in response to the slide contact between the movable contact and the stationary contact which is generated along with rotation of the shaft body.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the movable contact and the stationary contact are configured such that they are annularly arranged along a rotational direction of the rotary manipulation body and, at the same time, can detect a plurality of rotational positions of the lid body along with rotation of the shaft body.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the rotary switch is formed of an encoder for detecting a rotational angle.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the shaft body of the hinge member is pivotally mounted in the hollow shaft hole of the rotary manipulation body such that the shaft portion is rotated together with the rotary manipulation body in a rotational direction and is movable in an axial direction independently from the rotary manipulation body.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4066857 (1978-01-01), Suska
patent: 5117073 (1992-05-01), Mischenko
patent: 5608793 (1997-03-01), Uriya
patent: 6011544 (2000-01-01), Sato
patent: 6373006 (2002-04-01), Toki
Itabashi Takayuki
Kawase Tatsuaki
Ninomiya Nobuyuki
Oba Hiroki
Alps Electric Co. ,Ltd.
Beyer Weaver & Thomas
Friedhofer Michael
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