JPH0612148A - Information processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A note type information processing device capable of imparting an inclination to a keyboard. [Structure] The main body 1 and the key board 5 are connected to the rotary arm 1
Connect at 7. By rotating the rotation arm,
Inclination can be imparted while sliding the keyboard 5 backward. [Effect] The operability of the keyboard is improved and the usability is improved. As a result, erroneous input and fatigue are reduced. Moreover, the operation for imparting the inclination is easy.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus such as a notebook type or laptop type computer, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus having an inclined keyboard to improve operability during input.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, various information processing devices such as personal computers and Japanese word processors are being miniaturized. Particularly, in a so-called notebook type or laptop type information processing device in which a main body, a display device, and a keyboard are integrated, the portability thereof is dramatically improved.

From an ergonomic point of view, the keyboard should have a certain degree of inclination (note: the ideal inclination is said to be about 5 to 10 °) so that the front side becomes lower. , Characters and data are easy to input. In particular, when continuous input is performed for a long time, this effect becomes large in terms of preventing wrist and arm fatigue and erroneous input. Therefore, in the information processing device of the type in which the display device, the main body, and the keyboard are configured separately and are connected by a cord, a leg is provided behind the back surface of the keyboard itself, and the leg is raised. The keyboard is tilted.

[0004]

However, in the above note type information processing apparatus, in order to meet the demand for thinning, the operability is improved by inclining such a keyboard. There was not enough consideration given to this point. That is, the keyboard was integral with the body and the keyboard remained parallel to the mounting surface of the body (see FIG. 9).

Similar to the type in which the main body and the keyboard are separated from each other, there is a type in which a foot is provided at the rear of the back surface to give an inclination, but the setting operation of the legs is troublesome. It was Particularly, in a note-type information processing device that is intended to be carried around, it is troublesome to move the legs in and out each time the user moves.

The present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus in a so-called book type information processing apparatus in which the keyboard surface is inclined to improve the operability of the keyboard.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and in one aspect thereof, a main body including a circuit for data processing, and An information processing apparatus having a keyboard for inputting to a circuit and an inclination imparting means for changing a height position of a rear portion of the keyboard while sliding the keyboard backward. .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a main body, a keyboard configured independently of the main body, and a connecting means for connecting the main body and the keyboard. The connecting means is rotatably connected to the main body, and is the key.
An information processing apparatus is provided, which is rotatably connected to a board, and the axes of both connections are arranged in parallel.

It is preferable that the connecting means has an urging means for urging the connecting means between the main body and the connecting means as an axis so as to rotate in an upward pulling direction. In this case, it is preferable to have a lock means for restricting the rotation of the connecting means around the joint with the main body as an axis.

Further, in the case of a so-called clamshell type information processing device having a display means, the display means and the connection means are connected to each other, and the angular position of the connection means corresponding to the angle of the display means. It is preferable to have a link means for changing.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in an information processing device in which a main body and a keyboard are configured so that their relative positional relationship can be changed, the main body has a guide means,
An information processing apparatus is provided, wherein the keyboard has an engaging means that is engaged with the guiding means in a state of being movable along the guiding means.

The guide means may be a guide groove extending obliquely upward and rearward from the front lower portion of the main body.

It is preferable that the guide groove has a substantially horizontal inclination in the vicinity of its rearmost portion.

It is preferable to have urging means for urging the keyboard so that the keyboard moves rearward along the guide means.

[0015]

The main body and the keyboard are connected by the connecting means. In this case, the connecting means, the main body and the keyboard are connected to each other in a rotatable manner.

In such a construction, the connecting means is rotated by the biasing means in the upward pulling direction about the connecting portion between the main body and the connecting means as an axis. This allows the key
The board is lifted at its rear part while sliding backward. As a result, the keyboard will have a slope. The rotation is restricted by the locking means and can be performed only when necessary. Also,
It is fixed in a tilted state and a horizontal state.

Alternatively, the display means and the connection means are connected by a link means. As a result, the connecting means is rotated in correspondence with the angle of the display means, and the key is similarly pressed.
The board is inclined.

In another aspect, the keyboard is biased by the biasing means. In this case, since the engaging means is engaged with the guide means, the keyboard moves along the guide means (for example, the guide groove). The guide means extends obliquely upward and rearward from the lower portion on the front side of the main body. Therefore, the keyboard is slid rearward, and the rear position of the keyboard rises, that is, the keyboard is inclined.

Since the inclination of the guide groove is substantially horizontal in the vicinity of its rearmost portion, it can be lowered even if it receives a downward force due to a key input in a state where the inclination is once provided. There is no.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The present embodiment is characterized in that it has a mechanism for sliding up a keyboard, particularly in a notebook type or laptop type information processing apparatus.

Before describing the details of the slide-up mechanism, an outline of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Note that FIG.
[Fig. 4] is a perspective view showing a state where the keyboard is slid up, and a part of it is a perspective view.

The information processing apparatus has an LCD (Li
Qued Crystal Display (liquid crystal display board) 2, floppy disk drive (hereinafter "FDD")
3), the control board 4, etc. are arranged.

When a document is edited, the CPU of the control board 4 can be operated by inputting with an input device such as the keyboard 5.
To the desired editing operation. The input data and the processing result thereof are displayed on the LCD unit 2.

When printing a document, a command is sent to the control board 4 through software by pressing the print key from the keyboard 5, and an operation signal is sent to an external output device via the printer connector arranged on the rear surface of the main body for printing. Let

Next, the slide-up mechanism 8 and the lock mechanism 10 of the keyboard 5 which are the features of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

In this embodiment, the key board 5 and the main body 1 are separated and are connected by a rotary arm 17 corresponding to "connecting means" in the claims.
Then, the rotation arm 17 "stands up", so that the rear portion of the keyboard 5 is slid backward and lifted. The mechanism will be described in more detail below.

A hole 170 is provided at the front end of the rotary arm 17 on the keyboard side. On the other hand, the keyboard 5
The groove-shaped guide 16 is screwed to the back surface of the.
The channel guide 16 has a hole 160. The pin 18 is inserted and penetrated through both holes (hole 170, hole 160). As a result, the keyboard 5 and the rotary arm 17
The connection with is rotatable. The pin 18 is fixed by an E-ring 19 so as not to come off the groove guide 16.

Further, in the vicinity of the central portion of the rotary arm 17,
A center shaft 12 is provided so as to be fixed to the rotary arm 17. On the other hand, the main body 1 is provided with a bearing 11 integrated with the main body 1. The center shaft 12 is inserted into the shaft hole of the bearing 11.
As a result, the connection between the main body 1 and the rotary arm 17 is rotatable. A torsion coil spring 15 is attached to the center shaft 12 and urges the tip end of the center shaft 12 on the keyboard side in a direction of lifting it. Both shafts of the center shaft 12 are fixed by the E-ring 13, and the center shaft 12 does not disengage from the bearing 11.

The length of the rotary arm 17 (more accurately, the distance between the end of the main body 1 and the hole 170) is such that the inclination of the keyboard 5 is 5 ° to 10 °. The length is a constant angle.

The lock mechanism 10 for fixing the state of the keyboard 5 will be described.

The lock mechanism 10 includes a lock groove 175 provided at the rear end of the rotary arm 17 and the lock groove 175.
It is mainly composed of an L-shaped lever 23 for fixing the rotary arm 17 by fitting it to.

The L-shaped lever 23 is rotatably provided on a plane including the lock groove 175 about the guide pin 21 fixed to the main body. Further, the guide pin 21 is provided with a torsion coil spring 22 and urges the L-shaped lever 23 to rotate counterclockwise (when viewed from above). On the other hand, the movement of the L-shaped lever 23 is restricted by the stopper 20, and when the external force does not act on the end portion 235, the end portion 2 is not moved.
It is configured such that 30 stays fitted in the lock groove 175. Therefore, the L-shaped lever 23 can lock the rotary arm 17 in a state where it does not rise. Since the end portion 235 projects outward from the side surface of the main body 1 and is a portion that the user directly touches and operates, the rubber bush 24 is provided to improve the operational feel.

In the above description, the slide mechanism and the lock mechanism 10 arranged on the left side when facing the front of the information processing apparatus have been described. Therefore, with respect to the slide mechanism and the lock mechanism 10 arranged on the right side, there is a portion where the operation direction and the like are opposite to those described above. However, the mechanism is essentially the same.

The operation will be described.

The hook 9 is removed and the LCD section 2 is opened. In this state, the end 230 of the L-shaped arm 23 is fitted in the lock groove 175 of the rotary arm 17, and the rotary arm 17 is
Is locked sideways. Therefore, the key
The board 5 is substantially flush with the body 1.

The ends 235 of the left and right L-shaped arms 23 are pulled toward you. Then, the L-shaped arm 23 rotates about the guide pin 21 as an axis, the end portion 230 is disengaged from the lock groove 175 of the rotation arm 17, and the lock is released. Then,
The rotating arm 17 is rotated about the center shaft 12 by the force of the torsion coil spring 15 and "stands up". As a result, the rear end portion of the keyboard 5 is lifted while sliding backward, and has a predetermined inclination (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

After that, when the hand is released from the end portion 235, the L-shaped arm 23 returns to the original position again by the force received from the torsion coil spring 22.

As described above, in this embodiment,
The keyboard 5 can be tilted to improve operability. Further, the operation of giving and canceling the inclination is easy.
Therefore, the mobility of the note type or laptop type information processing device is not impaired.

At the lateral position of the rotary arm 17,
As shown in FIG. 5, when the keyboard is tilted, L
A lock groove 176 into which the shape arm 23 is fitted may be provided. With such a configuration, the keyboard when in use
It is possible to reliably hold the inclination of the door 5. Moreover,
It is also possible to adjust the inclination angle of the keyboard 5 by providing a plurality of lock grooves 176 provided at the lateral position by changing the position and fitting the lock grooves 176 into the desired lock groove 176 of the L-shaped arm 23. .

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, the inclination is provided by pulling up the keyboard along the guide groove provided on the side surface of the main body.

In this embodiment, similar to the above embodiment,
The main body 1'and the keyboard 5'are configured separately.

The main body 1'of this embodiment has a guide groove 29 in its side plate 27. The guide groove 29 extends obliquely upward and rearward from the lower front side of the main body 1. Then, in the vicinity of the rearmost edge, the direction of the guide groove 29 is substantially horizontal. From this point onward, this substantially horizontal portion will be referred to as "horizontal portion 2".
The guide groove 29 corresponds to the "guide means" in the claims. However, the "guide means" is not necessarily a groove.

Further, the side plate 27 is provided with a hook fixing pin 33.
Is provided. The height position where the hook stop pin 33 is provided is the same as or higher than the horizontal portion 295. The position in the front-rear direction is behind the horizontal portion 295.

On the other hand, the key board 5'has a hook fixing pin 3 which engages with the guide groove 29 at the lower rear portion of the side plate 55 thereof.
4 are provided. However, the engagement is not fixed, and the hook stop pin 34 can be easily moved along the guide groove 29.

A tension coil spring 30 is hung between the hook fixing pin 34 and the hook fixing pin 33. Therefore, the main body 1'and the key board 5'are always kept in a state of being attracted to each other regardless of their relative positional relationship. The strength of the tension coil spring 30 is sufficient to pull up the keyboard 5 along the guide groove 29. However, if it is too strong, the hook stop pin 34 may violently collide with the rearmost edge of the guide groove 29 and damage the key board 5 ', etc., so it is not too strong.

A projection receiving portion 31 is provided on the upper rear portion of the keyboard 5 '. On the other hand, the LCD unit 2'is provided with the closing protrusions 32 on the left and right edges thereof. The position of the closing projection 32 is such that when the LCD part 2'is closed while the keyboard 5'is inclined.
It is a position where the projection receiving portion 31 comes into contact with the projection receiving portion 31. As shown in FIG. 7, the projection receiving portion 31 and the closing projection 32 are shaped such that a force for pushing the key board 5'forward can be applied at the time of contact. There is.

Although only the left side surface is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a similar mechanism is provided on the right side surface.

The operation will be described.

The LCD section 2'is opened. Then, the keyboard 5 ′ is moved along the guide groove 29 by the force pulled by the tension coil spring 30. That is, the rear part of the keyboard 5'is pulled up while sliding backward. Then, the hook stop pin 34 stops in a state of contacting the rearmost edge of the guide groove 29. As a result, the keyboard 5'has an inclination. In this case, since the hook stop pin 34 is located in the horizontal portion 295 of the guide groove 29, the hook stop pin 34 is not lowered by the downward force (shown by arrow F in the figure) received when the key 40 is input.

On the other hand, when the LCD section 2'is closed during storage, the closing projection 32 comes into contact with the projection receiving section 31 in the middle. When the LCD part 2'is closed as it is, the key board 5'is moved to the front side by the force (indicated by the arrow N in the figure) acting on the key board 5'at the contact portion. Move
The hook stop pin 34 moves away from the horizontal portion 295. After that, when the LCD section 2'is further closed, the keyboard 5'is lowered along the guide groove 29. In this case, since the keyboard 5'slides to the front side, instead of the closing protrusion 32 and the protrusion receiving portion 31, other portions come into contact with each other. However, the hook stop pin 34 is already in the horizontal portion 295.
Away from it and no significant force is required to push down the keyboard 5 ', so no particular problem occurs.

Finally, that is, the keyboard 5 '
The storage is completed by fixing the LCD section 2 to the keyboard 5'in the horizontal position.

According to this embodiment, since the keyboard 5'is inclined, the operability of the input operation is improved. As a result, fatigue and erroneous input due to long-time input are reduced. Also, L
Since the inclination is automatically given and released as the CD section 2 is opened and closed, it is more convenient because no special operation is required.

Although the rearmost portion of the guide groove is substantially horizontal in the above embodiment, it does not necessarily have to be horizontal. As long as the inclination and the depth are such that it can be overcome by the force acting between the closing protrusion 32 and the protrusion receiving portion 31, it may be inclined rearward and obliquely downward near the rearmost portion.

Another embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, similar to the above embodiment,
The main body 1 "and the keyboard 5" are configured separately.

The key board 5 "and the main body 1" are connected by a connecting rod 28a. In addition, the connecting rod 28a and a connecting portion with each of the connecting rods 28a are rotatable. Further, the connecting rod 28a and the LCD section 2 ″ are linked by the connecting rod 28b.
With the opening and closing of the portion 2 ″, the connecting rod 28 a is configured to rotate about the connecting portion with the main body 1 ″ as an axis. In addition,
The connecting rod 28b is the linking means in the claims.

The operation will be described.

When the LCD section 2 "is opened, the connecting rod 28b rotates the connecting rod 28a.
The rear end is pulled up while the key board 5 "slides, so that it has an inclination.

Also in this embodiment, since the keyboard 5 "is provided with the inclination, the operability of the input operation is improved. As a result, fatigue and erroneous input due to long-time input are reduced.
Since the tilt is automatically given and released with the opening / closing of the LCD unit 2 ″, it is not necessary to perform a special operation, which is more convenient.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention, a tilt (5
-10 °). As a result, it is easy to input,
Fatigue and erroneous inputs are reduced. Further, the typing time can be reduced. In addition, operability is good because no special operation for imparting inclination is necessary or easy to perform.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a notebook information processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a slide-up mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state of a slide-up mechanism in a state where a tilt is applied to a keyboard.

FIG. 4 is a side perspective view showing a tilted state of the keyboard.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a rotary arm having a lock groove 176 for fixing the inclination of the keyboard.

FIG. 6 is a side perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a main part showing the details of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a side perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an outline of a conventional notebook information processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Main body, 2 ... LCD section, 3 ... FDD, 4
...... Control board, 5 ... Keyboard, 8 ... Slide-up mechanism, 9 ... Hook, 10 ... Lock mechanism,
11 ... Bearing, 12 ... Center shaft, 13
…… E ring, 14 …… Stopper, 15 …… Torsion coil spring, 16 …… Grooved guide, 17 …… Rotary arm, 18 …… Pin, 19 …… E ring, 20 ……
Stopper, 21 ... Guide pin, 22 ... Torsion coil spring, 23 ... L-shaped lever, 24 ... Rubber bush, 25 ... Stopper, 27 ... Side plate, 2
8 ... connecting rod, 29 ... guide groove, 30 ... tension coil spring, 31 ... projection receiving part, 32 ... closing projection,
33 ... Hook retaining pin, 34 ... Hook retaining pin, 40 ... Key, 55 ... Side plate, 160 ...
Hole, 170 ... Hole, 175 ... Lock groove, 176 ...
… Lock groove, 230 …… End, 235 …… End

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazunori Yanagisawa 1-280, Higashi Koikekubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo Inside the Design Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A main body including a circuit for data processing, a keyboard for inputting to the circuit, and a height of a rear portion of the keyboard while sliding the keyboard backward. An information processing apparatus comprising: an inclination imparting unit that changes a position. 2. A main body, a key board configured independently of the main body, and a connecting means for connecting the main body and the key board, wherein the connecting means is the main body. An information processing device, which is rotatably connected to the keyboard and is rotatably connected to the keyboard, and the axes of both connections are arranged in parallel. 3. An urging means for urging the connecting means in a direction of rotating in an upward pulling direction with a connecting portion of the main body and the connecting means as an axis. 2. The information processing device according to 2. 4. A so-called clamshell type information processing apparatus having display means, wherein the display means and the connecting means are connected to each other and the angular position of the connecting means is changed in correspondence with the angle of the display means. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising link means. 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a lock means for restricting rotation of the connecting means around a joint portion with the main body as an axis. 6. An information processing apparatus in which a relative positional relationship between a main body and a keyboard is changeable, the main body has a guiding means, and the keyboard comprises: An information processing apparatus comprising: an engaging unit that is engaged with the guide unit in a state of being movable along the guide unit. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the guide means is a guide groove extending obliquely upward and rearward from the lower portion of the front side of the main body. 8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the guide groove has a substantially horizontal inclination near its rearmost portion. 9. An urging means for urging the keyboard so that the keyboard moves rearward along the guide means. Information processing equipment.