JP2001168546A - Portable information terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the risk of a flexible substrate that is extended from an LCD panel or a touch panel from being pinched between parts in a portable information terminal. SOLUTION: A through hole 28 of a flexible substrate 23 is formed on a pedestal 22 for mounting a touch panel 12 and an LCD panel 13, and a flexible substrate 23 is passed through a through hole 28 for retaining while being accommodated in a gap at the lower portion of the pedestal 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a portable information terminal having a structure in which an LCD panel and a touch panel are mounted on a base and arranged above a substrate.

[0002]

In recent years, various portable information terminals have been provided, and most of these terminals have an LCD panel or a touch panel. In these information terminals, a flexible substrate is adopted as a cable for connecting an LCD panel or a touch panel to electric and electronic components mounted on the substrate, thereby achieving miniaturization and improvement in assemblability.

As one example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-30150
No. 4 discloses a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4 (1994). The basic technical contents of this are, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a flexible substrate 2 connected to a touch panel 1 is connected to a printed circuit board 3, and then a pedestal 4 is fixed on the printed circuit board 3. 4 is provided with the touch panel 1.

However, when the pedestal 4 is fixed to the printed circuit board 3 and the touch panel 1 is mounted on the pedestal 4, the flexible board 2 has a slack portion due to the length of the flexible board 2. When the flexible board 2 is fixed on the printed board 3, the loosened portion of the flexible board 2 may be pinched between the board 2 and the component 5 to cause a problem such as disconnection. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable information terminal in which a flexible substrate extended from an LCD panel or a touch panel is not likely to be sandwiched between components.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a guide is formed on a pedestal and an LC is formed.
Since at least one of the flexible substrate for D and the flexible substrate for the touch panel is passed through the guide, the extra portion of the flexible substrate can be held in a form not to be caught by other components. In the invention of claim 2,
Since the guide is formed of a through hole having a vertical and horizontal dimension slightly larger than the width and thickness of the flexible substrate to be passed, the flexible substrate can be securely held and the operation of passing the flexible substrate through the guide can be easily performed.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows the appearance of the portable information terminal according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the information terminal mainly includes a main body 11 formed in a size that can be held by one hand, and a touch panel 12 is provided on a surface thereof. Immediately below the touch panel 12, an LCD panel 13 is provided as a display as shown in FIG. Note that the pressing operation position of the touch panel 12 is detected by the LCD panel 13, and the personal computer system built in the main body 11 is configured to execute an operation according to the pressing operation position.

[0007] A seal 14 on which a plurality of icons 14a representing a switch function are printed is attached to the front edge of the touch panel 12 in the drawing. The icon at the left end of the icons 14a functions as a menu switch. When this icon is pressed with the touch pen 15, various menus are listed on the LCD panel 13. When a desired menu portion is pressed from the menu displayed on the LCD panel 13 with the touch pen 15, the menu is selected.

A terminal box 16 for a communication cable connected to a not-shown portable telephone (a concept including a PHS) is provided on an end face of the main body 11 on the near side in FIG. When the user selects the Internet or e-mail from various menus, it is configured so that a dial-up connection can be made to the Internet via a mobile phone. Various information can be obtained by connecting to various servers via the Internet. It is configured to be able to acquire and send e-mail to other mobile phones, personal computers, and the like.

The main body 11 has a built-in GPS receiving unit as position information acquiring means. When a map menu is selected, the portable telephone is dial-up connected to a map server, and the GPS receiving unit receives the GPS data. It is configured to transmit position information from an artificial satellite to a map server. Then, the map server analyzes the position data from the GPS artificial satellite transmitted from the information terminal side, acquires the current position of the information terminal, and transmits map data in a predetermined range around the current position to the mobile phone. . Then, a map around the current location is displayed on the LCD panel 13 of the information terminal.

[0010] Hereinafter, the directions of the information terminal in the front-rear, up-down, and left-right directions are based on the case where the main body 11 is placed on a flat surface and the terminal box 16 is on the front side. The main body 11 includes a lower case 17 and an upper case 18 made of plastic. As shown in FIG. 4, a main board 19 is mounted in the main body 11, and a ROM board 20 and an RF board 21 are mounted below and above the rear end of the main board 19, respectively. Have been. On the main board 19, electronic components constituting a microcomputer system, a power supply circuit for a matrix electrode of the touch panel 12, a drive circuit for the LCD panel 13, and the like are mounted, although not particularly designated. . Further, the ROM of the microcomputer system is mounted on the ROM board 20, and the RF board 2
1 is equipped with the aforementioned GPS receiving unit. The main board 19, the ROM board 20, and the RF board 21 are formed of a printed wiring board, and are formed with pattern wiring for connecting mounted electronic components.

Above the main board 19 and immediately before the RF board 21 (left side in FIG. 4), a flat base 22 is provided. The pedestal 22 is made of plastic and formed in a stepped rectangular concave shape. The touch panel 12 and the LCD panel 13 are provided in the pedestal 22. In this case, the touch panel 12 is housed in the pedestal 22 such that the peripheral portion is placed on the lower step portion 22a,
The CD panel 13 is housed in the pedestal 22 such that the peripheral edge is placed on the upper step 22b. The touch panel 12 and the LCD panel 13 are fixed to the upper and lower steps 22a and 22b of the pedestal 22 by double-sided adhesive tape (not shown). A plurality of bosses 17a having different heights are formed inside the lower case 17, and the boss portions 17a are provided on the ROM board 2a.
0, the main board 19, the RF board 21, and the pedestal 22 are fixed by screws.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a flexible substrate (flexible substrate for a touch panel) 23 is connected to the touch panel 12 at the rear end leftward, and the LCD panel 13 has a right end. A flexible substrate 24 (LCD flexible substrate) is connected near the center of the section. These flexible substrates 23 and 24 function as flat cables for connecting the touch panel 12 and the LCD panel 13 to the pattern wiring of the main substrate 19, and have sockets 25 and 26 mounted on the main substrate 19 at the distal ends.
Plugs 23a and 24a are provided.

On the other hand, a projecting portion 27 is provided at the rear end portion of the pedestal 22 on the left side, and a first through hole 28 as a guide is formed in the projecting portion 27. Also, the pedestal 22
A second through hole 29 as a guide is formed in a central portion near the right side edge. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the flexible board 23 of the touch panel 12 is passed through the first through hole 28 and protrudes downward, and the plug 23 a at the tip is connected to the socket 25 of the main board 19. I have. The flexible board 24 of the LCD panel 13 passes through the second through hole 29 and protrudes downward. The plug 24 a at the tip is connected to the socket 26 of the main board 19. Here, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the first and second through holes 28 and 29 are determined to be slightly larger than the thickness and width dimensions of the flexible substrates 23 and 24, respectively. Is easily passed through the first and second through holes 28 and 29, and after passing through, the flexible substrates 23 and 24 are difficult to move, so that the flexible substrates 23 and 24 are held at the proper positions.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 30 denotes an RF substrate 21.
A cover for covering components mounted on the lower case 17, a battery housed in a battery chamber (not shown) formed on the back side of the lower case 17, a cover 32 for the battery chamber, and a cover 33 on the side of the lower case 17. It is a push button that can be attached.

Next, in the above configuration, after the main board 19 is attached to the lower case 17, the pedestal 22 is moved to the lower case 17.
The procedure for attaching to a device will be described. First, it is assumed that the LCD panel 13 and the touch panel 12 are bonded to the pedestal 22 in advance by a double-sided tape.

Prior to attaching the pedestal 22 to the lower case 17, the flexible substrates 23 and 24 of the touch panel 12 and the LCD panel 13 are pulled out below the pedestal 22 through the first and second through holes 28 and 29. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the plugs 23a and 24a of the flexible boards 23 and 24 are set with the right side of the pedestal 22 close to the left side edge of the main board 19 previously attached to the lower case 17. The main board 19 is inserted and connected to the sockets 25 and 26.

Then, the pedestal 22 is attached to the lower case 17. At this time, the two flexible substrates 23 and 24 are accommodated in a gap between the main substrate 19 and the pedestal 22, as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the RF board 21 and the like are attached to the lower case 17. This R
When the F board 21 and the like are mounted, the two flexible boards 23 and 24 are housed under the pedestal 22, so that they are particularly located near the RF board 21 mounted close to the pedestal 22. LCD panel 13
There is no possibility that the flexible board 23 on the side is sandwiched between the RF board 21 and the components mounted on the main board 19.

As described above, in particular, the flexible substrate 23 on the LCD panel 13 side has a long margin for connecting to the socket 25 in the state shown in FIG. 2, but this margin is the first margin. The pedestal 22 by the through hole 28 of
Is held in the lower gap, so that the surplus portion can be effectively prevented from being pinched by components to be attached later, and disconnection accidents and the like can be prevented beforehand. You can do it.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and the following modifications or extensions are possible. Since the flexible board 24 of the LCD panel 13 having a short margin is less likely to be caught by other components, it is not particularly necessary to provide the through-hole 29 and pass through the through-hole 29. The guide is not limited to the through holes 28 and 29, and may be any guide that can hold the flexible substrates 23 and 24.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a main part showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part showing a state in which a flexible board is connected to a socket.

FIG. 3 is an overall exploded perspective view.

FIG. 4 is an overall vertical side view.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the entire appearance.

FIG. 6 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional configuration.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the figure, 11 is a main body, 12 is a touch panel, 13 is an LCD
Panel, 17 is the lower case, 19 is the main board, 20 is R
OM board, 21 is an RF board, 23 and 24 are flexible boards, 25 and 26 are sockets, 28 and 29 are first and second
Through holes (guides).

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 15/02 315 G06F 1/00 320C F term (Reference) 4E352 AA07 AA16 BB02 BB04 BB08 CC42 CC52 DD15 DR01 DR14 DR19 DR34 DR40 GG12 GG17 5B019 BB06 DA06 EA01 5B087 AA00 AE09 CC02 CC11

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substrate disposed in a main body case, a pedestal disposed above the substrate, an LCD panel mounted on the pedestal, and mounted on the pedestal so as to overlap the LCD panel. A touch panel, an LCD flexible substrate extended from the LCD panel and connected to a pattern wiring formed on the substrate, and a touch panel extended from the touch panel and connected to a pattern wiring formed on the substrate A portable information terminal, comprising: a flexible substrate; a guide formed on the pedestal; and at least one of the LCD flexible substrate and the touch panel flexible substrate is passed through the guide. 2. The portable upper terminal according to claim 1, wherein the guide comprises a through hole having a length and a width slightly larger than a width and a thickness of the flexible board to be passed.