Patent Grant
7750590
The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP2005-161453 filed on Jun. 1, 2005, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to a display apparatus having a display screen part supported on a base turnably.
There has been heretofore proposed an electronic apparatus with a revolving or turning mechanism which can respond to operation of a button of a remote controller to turn the electronic apparatus toward a person or a viewer who operates the remote controller. This proposed electronic apparatus with the turning mechanism includes a remote controller having a light emitting part and an apparatus body having a light receiving part for receiving a remote-control light signal emitted by the light emitting part of the remote controller, a detection part for detecting a light amount of the remote-control light signal received by the light receiving part, an operation part for calculating a turning angle on the basis of the amount of light detected by the detection part and the turning mechanism for turning the electronic apparatus about an axis thereof in accordance with an output of the operation part (refer to JP-A-2001-285755, for example).
A flat panel display apparatus having a swivel mechanism, such as the electronic apparatus with the turning mechanism proposed above, which can freely turn a display screen of the display apparatus electrically by means of a remote controller and adopts a stand for a desk-top lamp is very convenient. Accordingly, many users often operate the remote controller to turn the display screen of the flat panel display apparatus.
However, there is a possibility that the display screen collides with a wall at the periphery thereof in turning, so that the flat panel display apparatus falls down or collides with various objects placed at the periphery to thereby bring down the objects, so that the objects are damaged or broken. Accordingly, it is necessary to set the turning power of the flat panel display apparatus and the braking power for braking turning to be small. Therefore, when the flat panel display apparatus includes various kinds of switches requiring operation power that is strong to some degree and a device insertable/extractable from the flat panel display apparatus, like an external recording device such as, for example, an external hard disk, mounted integrally to the flat panel display apparatus, it is necessary to decide mounting positions of the switches and the external recording device in the flat panel display apparatus so that the flat panel display apparatus is not turned due to operation of the switches and insertion/extraction operation of the external recording apparatus.
As described above, large restriction is imposed on the mounting positions of the switches and external recording device in the conventional flat panel display apparatus.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display apparatus with a turnable display screen which cannot receive large restriction on the mounting positions of the various switches and insertable/extractable external components and can set the turning power and the braking power for braking turning to be large.
The display apparatus according to the present invention comprises a base, a display screen part supported on the base turnably, a driving part for turning the display screen part in accordance with an inputted control signal, a prevention mechanism for preventing turning of the display screen part by the driving part, a judgment part for judging whether the display apparatus is operated or not, and a controller for producing a signal for preventing turning of the display screen part by the driving part by means of the prevention mechanism when it is judged that the display apparatus is not operated and releasing the prevention when it is judged that the display apparatus begins to be operated.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the driving part includes an electric motor and a revolving power transmission mechanism for transmitting revolving power from the electric motor to a support shaft for supporting the display screen part turnably.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the prevention mechanism includes a resistance gear provided in the revolving power transmission mechanism and meshing with a train of teeth fixedly mounted to the base to suppress revolution of the revolving power transmission mechanism.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the prevention mechanism comprises a disk brake mechanism fixedly mounted to the base and slidably contacting to at least one of revolving bodies constituting the revolving power transmission mechanism to suppress revolution of the revolving power transmission mechanism.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the display apparatus is operated by a remote controller.
According to a still further embodiment of the present invention, the electric motor and a plurality of revolving bodies constituting the revolving power transmission mechanism are formed to be revolved clockwise and counterclockwise.
According to a different embodiment of the present invention, the display screen part comprises a flat liquid crystal panel display or plasma display panel, and a turning angle of the display screen part is limited within a predetermined angular range.
According to the present invention, the display apparatus with a turnable display screen cannot receive large restriction on the mounting positions of various switches and insertable/extractable external components and can set the turning power and the braking power for braking turning to be large.
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Embodiments of the present invention are now described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
The display screen part 5 is formed into a solid body having an oblong rectangle and a short depth, that is, formed to be thin as a whole. The display screen part 5 includes an outer frame 7 formed into an oblong rectangle and a display screen 9 fitted into the outer frame 7 and formed of, for example, a plasma display panel or a liquid crystal display panel. Various switches 11 for operating the display apparatus are mounted on the lower left end of the front side of the outer frame 7. Further, a front input terminal 13 to which an external recording device (not shown) such as, for example, hard disk, optical disk and memory device like semiconductor memory can be inserted and extracted is mounted on the right lower end of the front side of the outer frame 7.
In
On the other hand, the controller 92 (
As shown in
The outer ring member 17 is to cover other members constituting the revolving power transmission mechanism 3 and includes a plurality of rollers 171 to 17n disposed at substantially equal spaces. The inner ring member 19 having the thickness set to be partially increased and an external diameter slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the outer ring member 17 is disposed on the inner peripheral side of the outer ring member 17 so that the inner ring member 19 is in close proximity to the outer ring member 17. A train of teeth meshing with an internal gear 51 described later is formed at the place corresponding to the part having the increased thickness of the inner ring member 19 on the inner peripheral side of the outer ring member 17 along the inner periphery of the outer ring member 17.
A train of teeth meshing with a resistance gear 29 included in the brake mechanism 27 is formed along the inner periphery of the arcuated member 21 at the place on the inner peripheral side of the arcuated member 21 against which the resistance gear 29 can abut.
The controller 92 (e.g. microcomputer), the ultrasonic receiving part 91, a power supply 97 (
Signal lines made of flexible material are adopted for the motor control signal lines 37, 39 and the brake mechanism control signal line 41 in consideration of turning motion of the turning motion mechanism 23 (a support member 43 thereof) in the space defined by the inner ring member 19 and the arcuated member 21.
The controller 92 makes transmission and reception of information required mutually between the monitor of the display screen part 5 and the controller 92 through the cable 33 and the connector 31. Further, the controller 92 supplies a motor control signal for driving and stopping the motor 35 to the motor 35 through the motor control signal lines 37, 39 and a brake mechanism control signal for controlling the brake mechanism 27 to the brake mechanism 27 through the brake mechanism control signal line 41.
The turning motion mechanism 23 includes the support member 43, the motor 35, a worm 45, a worm gear 47, a large gear 49, the internal gear 51 and the brake mechanism 27. The turning motion mechanism 23 (support member 43) is adapted to be turned about the support shaft (fixed shaft) constituted by the revolution shaft of the internal gear 51. That is, the turning motion mechanism 23 (support member 43) is turned by revolving the internal gear 51 and stops its turning by stopping the internal gear 51 from being revolved. The bottom of the display screen part 5 shown in
The worm 45 is fixedly mounted to a revolution shaft of the motor 35 concentrically and meshes with the worm gear 47 to transmit the revolving power of the motor 35 to the worm gear 47. A pinion 53 is fixedly mounted to the revolution shaft of the worm gear 47 concentrically. The pinion 53 meshes with the large gear 49 to transmit the revolving power outputted from the motor 35 to the large gear 49 through the worm gear 47 and the worm 45. The large gear 49 meshes with a pinion 55 fixedly mounted to the revolution shaft of the internal gear 51 concentrically to thereby transmit the revolving power outputted through the pinion 53, the worm gear 47 and the worm 45 from the motor 35 to the internal gear 51 through the pinion 55.
The internal gear 51 is fixedly mounted to the circular recess 1a (of the base 1) through the revolution shaft thereof and meshes with the train of teeth formed on the inner peripheral side of the outer ring member 17 as described above. When the resistance gear 29 of the brake mechanism 27 is apart from the train of teeth formed along the inner periphery of the arcuated member 21 as different from the state shown in
More particularly, as described above, the internal gear 51 is revolved while the internal gear 51 meshes with the train of teeth formed on the inner peripheral side of the outer ring member 17, so that the turning motion mechanism 23 (support member 43) is turned clockwise and counterclockwise within a predetermined angular range about the support shaft (fixed shaft) constituted by the revolution shaft of the internal gear 51.
As described above, when the remote controller 15 shown in
The brake mechanism 27 includes a first arm 57, a second arm 59 and the resistance gear 29. The first arm 57 includes one end fixedly attached to the support member 43 and the other end to which one end of the second arm 59 is swingably attached through a rotation shaft 61. The resistance gear 29 is fixedly supported to the other end of the second arm 59. As apparent from the foregoing description, the brake mechanism 27 is controlled by the brake mechanism control signal from the controller 92 so that the second arm 59 is swung about the rotation shaft 61 to mesh the resistance gear 29 with the train of teeth formed along the inner periphery of the arcuated member 21 and separate the resistance gear 29 from the train of teeth.
The controller 92 supplies the brake mechanism control signal to the brake mechanism 27 so that the resistance gear 29 meshes with the train of teeth when the remote controller 15 is not operated by the user and the resistance gear 29 does not mesh with the train of teeth when the remote controller 15 is operated by the user.
In
When the judgment part 93 of the controller 92 recognizes on the basis of a signal from a contact switch or an optical sensor 98 (
In the conventional display apparatus, as apparent from
In contrast, in the display apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention, as apparent from
Similarly, when the brake mechanism 27 is operated automatically, the display screen part 5 is not turned counterclockwise as shown by thick arrow by the force caused when the user inserts into or extracts from the front input terminal 13 the external recording device such as, for example, an external hard disk.
As shown in
As described above, in the display apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, large restriction is not imposed on the mounting positions of the switches 11 and the external components or the external recording device which can be inserted and extracted and the turning power and the braking power for braking the turning can be set to be large.
The display apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is different from that of the embodiment shown in
As shown in
When the disk brake body 85 is moved up by means of the arm 83 while the bottom of the disk brake body 85 abuts to the stopper member 89, the bottom of the disk brake body 85 is separated from the stopper member 89. Consequently, the disk brake body 85 abuts to the bottom of the large gear 49 to shift the disk brake 81 from the released state to the operation state.
As described above, even in the display apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in
Further, the display screen part control signal 90 transmitted from the remote controller 15 may use electric wave or infrared light instead of ultrasonic signal. In this case, the ultrasonic receiving part 91 is changed to a receiving device capable of receiving electric wave or infrared light. Further, the ultrasonic receiving part 91 may be disposed in the display screen part 5 and connected to the controller 92 by means of the signal line 33.
The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, although the embodiments are examples illustrative of the present invention and it is not the gist for limiting the scope of the present invention to the embodiments. The present invention can be implemented even in other various aspects.
While we have shown and described several embodiments in accordance with our invention, it should be understood that disclosed embodiments are susceptible of changes and modifications without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, we do not intend to be bound by the details shown and described herein but intend to cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the ambit of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-161453 | Jun 2005 | JP | national |
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| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2685952 | Mar 2005 | CN |
| 2001-285755 | Oct 2001 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060290687 A1 | Dec 2006 | US |
