This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-245086, filed Sep. 25, 2008, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cellular phone, and more specifically, to a cellular phone capable of being made smaller and thinner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A candy-bar cellphone is a known example of a cellular phone, in which various components, such as a display, input key unit, motherboard, battery, microphone, and receiver, are contained in one case or housing (e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2008-147407).
In a candy-bar cellular phone 100 shown in
On the other hand, a clamshell cellular phone is also known in which a first case that contains an input key unit and battery and a second case that contains a display and components are arranged in a folding manner with a hinge part between them (e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-298158).
In this clamshell cellular phone, each case is formed by, for example, adhesively bonding a stainless-steel plate and magnesium housing to each other. An alternative configuration example is known in which a first case integrally formed of a stainless-steel plate and resin is combined with a plastic second case.
There is a strong demand for smaller, thinner cellular phones that are more portable. These phones, having the components contained in the case or housing, can be made smaller or thinner by reducing the wall thickness of the case.
However, the above technique has the following problem. If the wall thickness of the plastic housing is simply reduced, the strength of the housing is also reduced.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a cellular phone comprises, a plate-like portion of a metallic material having one of a display section and an input key unit located on one principal surface side thereof, and a frame side portion including a frame-like elongated member of an insulating material and disposed at an outer peripheral part of the plate-like portion, a dimension of the elongated member constituting the frame side portion in a thickness direction intersecting the principal surface being smaller than a dimension of the elongated member in a width direction intersecting the thickness direction.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A first embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to
A cellular phone 10 is a candy-bar cellphone in the form of a cuboid, measuring, for example, 50 mm wide, 90 mm long, and 4 mm thick.
The cellular phone 10 is provided with a base section 13, which is formed of a rectangular plate-like portion 11 and frame side portion 12 surrounding the outer periphery of the plate-like portion 11. Various components 20, such as a receiver 21, liquid crystal display (display section) 22, input key unit (input key section) 23, microphone 24, antenna 25, motherboard 26, and battery 27, are arranged in a region surrounded by the base section 13.
The plate-like portion 11 is located behind the input key unit 23 and is in the form of a rectangular plate of a metallic material, such as stainless steel, about 0.3 mm thick (in the Z-direction). The plate-like portion 11 produces reaction force during an input operation in which keys of the input key unit 23 are pressed.
A slot 11a through which a flexible wiring board for connecting the receiver 21 and motherboard 26 is passed is provided on one longitudinal end side of the plate-like portion 11, and a slot 11b for holding the antenna 25 is formed on the other end side.
The plate-like portion 11 is bent along its thickness at two spots in an intermediate portion with respect to the lengthwise direction (Y-direction) and is formed with a stepped portion 14 about 1 mm high. The stepped portion 14 divides a depressed portion 16 on one longitudinal side and a raised portion 15 on the other side. Thus, the difference in thickness between the liquid crystal display 22 and input key unit 23 can be absorbed to make the surface of the phone flat. Further, the stepped portion 14 extends in the crosswise direction (X-direction) of the phone and serves to enhance the rigidity of the phone along its short sides.
The stepped portion 14 is inclined with respect to the vertical direction, and two wiring slots 11c and 11d are formed penetrating the inclined portion across its thickness. The wiring slot 11c can be penetrated by wirings 17 and 18 that connect the components 20 arranged on one principal surface side (obverse side) and those arranged on the other principal surface side (reverse side).
The frame side portion 12 is formed of fiberglass-reinforced plastic containing, for example, a polyamide resin mixed with fiberglass. The frame side portion 12 includes elongated members 19 on its four sides that extend longitudinally and transversely across one another and form a frame.
Each elongated member 19 has a width (dimension in the X- or Y-direction) of 4 mm and a thickness (dimension in the Z-direction) of 3.5 mm, for example. The width of each elongated member 19 is not smaller than half of, or preferably equal to or greater than, its thickness. Preferably, moreover, the thickness of each elongated member 19 should be, for example, five or more times as great as the thickness of the plate-like portion 11.
A notched opening 19a through which an SIM connector 31 is exposed is formed in a predetermined region corresponding to a connector on the frame side portion 12.
A region surrounded by the frame side portion 12 is divided above and below (between the obverse and reverse sides) by the plate-like portion 11 and further divided lengthwise by the stepped portion 14. Thus, four spaces are defined around the stepped portion 14 of the plate-like portion 11. In
The receiver 21, the liquid crystal display 22, and a protective plastic film 28 are located in the first region A1.
The input key unit 23, microphone 24, and antenna 25 are located in the second region A2.
An RF-ID coil antenna 29 and motherboard 26 are located in the third region A3.
The battery 27 is located in the fourth region A4.
The receiver 21 is located on the obverse side of the phone and connected to the motherboard 26 by the flexible wiring board (not shown) passed through the slot 11a.
The liquid crystal display 22 is located on the obverse side of the phone, and the protective plastic film 28 0.1 mm thick is affixed to the surface of the display 22.
The input key unit 23 and microphone 24 are located on the obverse side of the phone and connected to each other by a flexible wiring board (not shown).
The antenna 25 is located through the slot 11b in the plate-like portion 11 and connected to the motherboard 26 through an antenna impedance matching circuit board (not shown).
The motherboard 26 is a rectangular plate 40 mm wide, 45 mm long, and 0.3 mm thick. An electronic component 26a such as a semiconductor package with a maximum thickness of 1.4 mm is mounted on the motherboard 26.
The RF-ID coil antenna 29, which is a flexible wiring board 0.1 mm thick, is connected to the motherboard 26, and is mounted on the motherboard 26.
The battery 27 is adhesively bonded to the plate-like portion 11 from behind the phone and connected to the motherboard 26 through a protection circuit.
The external connector 50 for charging and data transmission and reception is mounted on the motherboard 26 so as to be located in the opening 19a in the form of a notch in a short-side part.
The protective plastic film 28 is located on the surface of the liquid crystal display 22.
The reverse and obverse surfaces of the phone are respectively covered by plastic style strips 32 and 33 0.2 mm thick. The style strips 32 and 33 are bonded to the surfaces of the frame side portion 12 by 0.05-mm-thick adhesive films (not shown), individually.
Further, the liquid crystal display 22 and input key unit 23 are respectively connected to the motherboard 26 by flexible wiring boards 17 and 18 0.2 mm thick. The wiring boards 17 and 18 are arranged through the two slots 11c and 11d 10 mm by 0.8 mm in the stepped portion 14 of the plate-like portion 11.
Assembly procedures for the cellular phone 10 according to the present embodiment will now be described with reference to
The slots 11a to 11d are formed at four predetermined spots on the 0.3-mm-thick stainless-steel plate, and the stepped portion 14 is formed by bending the plate by means of a die. The plate-like portion 11 with a predetermined shape is formed in this manner.
Then, the plate-like portion 11 is set in a resin molding die, and the base section 13 is formed by molding the plastic frame side portion 12 3.5 mm thick on the outer peripheral part of the plate-like portion 11 by the injection method. In this molding operation, the frame side portion 12 is formed into a frame of a predetermined shape with the notched opening 19a. The base section 13 shown in
Then, the motherboard 26 mounted with the electronic component 26a, receiver 21, and liquid crystal display 22 are fixed to the frame side portion 12 of the base section 13, as shown in
Then, as shown in
Further, the antenna 25 is fixed through the slot lib. Finally, the style strips 32 and 33 are bonded to the reverse and obverse surfaces, respectively, of the phone, whereupon the phone is completed.
In this manner, the cellular phone 10 shown in
According to the present embodiment, the cellular phone can be made thinner while maintaining its rigidity. Thus, according to the cellular phone 10, its thickness can be reduced without failing to secure its essential strength, and radio frequency identification can be satisfactorily performed by using either of its surfaces. Since the frame side portion 12 and plate-like portion 11 are molded integrally with each other, moreover, the rigidity can be enhanced with a simple configuration.
Since the plate-like portion 11 has the slots 11a to 11d for component mounting, furthermore, there is no need of any mounting mechanism for positioning or fixing the components 20, so that the configuration can be simplified.
Since the frame side portion 12 of an insulating resin is used in the present embodiment, moreover, it can deal with communication such that an induced current is changed with a change of a magnetic flux that passes through the loop of the coil antenna 29 used for RF-ID communication. Specifically, if a metal body 113 exists between a coil antenna 111 and reader/writer 112 for identification, as shown in
Although stainless steel is used for the plate-like portion 11 that constitutes the frame according to the present embodiment, it may be replaced with copper, nickel, or some other material with the same effect. Further, the material of the frame side portion 12 is not limited to a polyamide-based resin, and some other strong resin may be used instead. Furthermore, the reinforcement for the resin is not limited to fiberglass.
A cellular phone 10 according to a second embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to
In the present embodiment, the plate-like portion 11 is the wiring board 41 formed of a metal core, not a stainless-steel plate. A plastic frame side portion 12 is formed around the wiring board 41 and constitutes a base section 13. Thus, the number of components is reduced by using the wiring board 41 as the plate-like portion 11.
As shown in
Various components are mounted directly in predetermined regions on the wiring board 41. For example, the liquid crystal display 22 and keys are mounted on the wiring board 41, and an electronic component 41f, such as a semiconductor package, and battery 27 on the reverse side.
The metal core 41a is exposed at the outer peripheral part of the wiring board 41 and held by the frame side portion 12.
Further, a plurality of holding holes 41d are formed in the outer peripheral part of the plate-like portion 11, which is held by the holding portion 12a, so as to penetrate the peripheral part across its thickness. A resin material is molded so as to fill the holding holes 41d and cover the outer peripheral part, whereby the frame side portion 12 is formed. In other words, the frame side portion 12 is formed in such a manner that the resin material is integrally molded passing through the holding holes 41d. Thus, the plate-like portion 11 can be firmly held by the holding portion 12a.
The present embodiment can produce the same effects as those of the aforementioned first embodiment. Further, the total thickness of the cellular phone can be reduced by using the wiring board 41 as a substitute for the plate-like portion 11. Furthermore, functional unit components of electronic equipment divided by the plate-like portion 11 can be mounted directly, so that the number of components, including connectors, can be reduced. Since the frame side portion 12 and wiring board 41 on which the components are mounted are molded integrally with one another, moreover, the assembly of components can be facilitated.
A cellular phone 10 according to a third embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to
The present embodiment can produce the same effects as those of the aforementioned first and second embodiments.
The present invention is not limited directly to the embodiments described above, and its constituent elements may be embodied in modified forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.
The frame side portion 12 may be configured to surround either the entire circumference or part of the plate-like portion 11.
Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements described in connection with the embodiments described herein. For example, some of the constituent elements according to the embodiments may be omitted. Further, constituent elements according to different embodiments may be combined as required.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, representative devices, and illustrated examples shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2008-245086 | Sep 2008 | JP | national |