Portable telephone and electronic equipment

Abstract

The portable telephone has an optical signal transmission section 100 for performing signal transmission between a first casing 101 and a second casing 102 by optical signals. A need for any complex electromagnetic shield structure can be eliminated. There is no occurrence of electromagnetic-wave noise from an optical signal transmission section 100. Thus, electromagnetic-wave noise of the whole portable telephone can be extremely reduced.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not intended to limit the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1A is a front sectional view showing a first embodiment of a portable telephone according to the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a side view of the portable telephone of the first embodiment;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing a single-core plastic optical fiber cable;

FIG. 2B is a perspective view showing a multi-core plastic optical fiber cable;

FIG. 3A is a front sectional view showing a second embodiment of a portable telephone according to the present invention;

FIG. 3B is a side view of the portable telephone of the second embodiment;

FIG. 4A is a front sectional view showing a third embodiment of a portable telephone according to the present invention;

FIG. 4B is a side view of the portable telephone of the third embodiment;

FIG. 5A is an enlarged side view of main part of a portable telephone according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 5B is an enlarged side view of a light receiving part;

FIG. 5C is an enlarged plan view of the light receiving part;

FIG. 6A is a front view showing a fifth embodiment of a portable telephone according to the present invention;

FIG. 6B is a front sectional view of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 6C is a side view of FIG. 6A;

FIG. 7A is a perspective view showing an optical fiber cable and a plug;

FIG. 7B is a front view of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8A is a sectional view showing a single-core plastic optical fiber cable;

FIG. 8B is a sectional view a multi-core plastic optical fiber cable;

FIG. 9A is a front view of an optical element part;

FIG. 9B is a side view of the optical element part;

FIG. 9C is a top view of the optical element part;

FIG. 10A is a sectional view of an optical element part at its fixing-use protruding portion, showing a fitting state between a receptacle and the optical element part;

FIG. 10B is a sectional view of the optical element part at its positioning-use protruding portion, showing a fitting state between the receptacle and the optical element part;

FIG. 11A is a top perspective view of the receptacle;

FIG. 11B is a bottom perspective view of the receptacle;

FIG. 12A is a bottom perspective view for explaining the fitting between the receptacle and the optical element part;

FIG. 12B is a top perspective view for explaining the fitting between the receptacle and the plug;

FIG. 13A is a front view showing a sixth embodiment of the portable telephone of the invention and showing a developed state of the plug;

FIG. 13B is a front view showing a bent state of the plug;

FIG. 14A is a front view showing a seventh embodiment of the portable telephone of the invention and showing a developed state of the plug;

FIG. 14B is a front view showing a bent state of the plug;

FIG. 15A is a perspective view showing an eighth embodiment of the portable telephone of the invention and showing a separated state of the plug;

FIG. 15B is a front view showing a fitting state of the plug;

FIG. 16A is a front view showing a ninth embodiment of a portable telephone according to the present invention;

FIG. 16B is a front sectional view of FIG. 16A;

FIG. 16C is a side view of FIG. 16A;

FIG. 17 is a front view of a conventional portable telephone;

FIG. 18A is a front sectional view of the conventional portable telephone;

FIG. 18B is a side view of the conventional portable telephone;

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view of a coaxial type flexible cable.

Claims

1. A portable telephone comprising: a first casing having a display panel;a second casing which has an operation panel and which is coupled to the first casing so as to be foldable or developable; andan optical signal transmission section for performing signal transmission between the first casing and the second casing by optical signals.

2. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 1, wherein a transmission speed of the optical signal transmission section is 400 Mbps or more.

3. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical signal transmission section includes: a light transmitting part which is placed in either one of the first casing or the second casing and which transmits an optical signal;a light receiving part which is placed in the other one of the first casing or the second casing and which receives an optical signal; andan optical transmission medium which is stretched between the first casing and the second casing so as to couple the light transmitting part and the light receiving part to each other, whereinan optical signal transmitted from the light transmitting part is received by the light receiving part via the optical transmission medium.

4. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical transmission medium is a single-core plastic optical fiber cable.

5. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical transmission medium is a multi-core plastic optical fiber cable.

6. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical transmission medium is a multi-core glass fiber cable.

7. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 4, wherein the light transmitting part is an LED having an emission wavelength of 650±50 nm.

8. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical transmission medium is a PCS fiber cable.

9. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 8, wherein the light transmitting part is a VCSEL having an emission wavelength of 600 nm to 900 nm.

10. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical transmission medium is a flexible-board type waveguide.

11. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 10, wherein the light transmitting part is an LED array having an emission wavelength of 650±50 nm.

12. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 10, wherein the light transmitting part is a VCSEL array having an emission wavelength of 600 nm to 900 nm.

13. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 10, wherein the light receiving part is a photodiode array.

14. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical signal transmission section includes;a light transmitting part which is placed in either one of the first casing or the second casing and which transmits an optical signal; anda light receiving part which is placed in the other one of the first casing or the second casing and which receives an optical signal, and whereinan optical signal transmitted from the light transmitting part is received by the light receiving part by optical space transmission.

15. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 14, wherein with the first casing and the second casing developed,the light transmitting part and the light receiving part are placed so as to be opposed and optically coupled to each other.

16. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 15, wherein with the first casing and the second casing developed,the first casing and the second casing have recess-and-protrusion structures for interrupting disturbance light at their portions corresponding to the light transmitting part and the light receiving part, respectively.

17. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 15, wherein in the first casing and the second casing, boards are provided, respectively,with the first casing and the second casing developed, the board of the first casing and the board of the second casing are inclined to each other at a specified angle, andthe light transmitting part is mounted on one of the boards of the first casing and the second casing so that an optical axis of the light transmitting part is inclined at a specified angle to a direction perpendicular to the one board,while the light receiving part is mounted on the other one of the boards of the first casing and the second casing so that an optical axis of the light receiving part is inclined at a specified angle to a direction perpendicular to the other board, and whereinwith the first casing and the second casing developed, the optical axis of the light transmitting part and the optical axis of the light receiving part are coincident with each other.

18. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 3, wherein the light receiving part includes:a photodiode; anda circuit which is integrated with the photodiode into one chip and which processes a signal of the photodiode.

19. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical signal transmission section includes:optical element parts which are placed in the first casing and the second casing, respectively, and which perform at least one of transmission and reception of optical signals;an optical transmission medium which is stretched between the first casing and the second casing so as to optically couple the optical element part of the first casing and the optical element part of the second casing to each other and which has plugs provided at its both ends; andreceptacles which are placed in the first casing and the second casing, respectively, and which have the plugs of the optical transmission medium fitted and held thereto while having the optical element parts fitted and held thereto so that the optical element parts and the optical transmission medium are optically coupled to each other.

20. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 19, wherein the receptacles allow the plugs of the optical transmission medium and the optical element parts to be fitted thereto along a direction perpendicular to an optical axis of the optical transmission medium.

21. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 19, wherein the first casing and the second casing are provided with a hinge portion by which the first casing and the second casing are coupled to each other so as to be foldable or developable, andthe optical transmission medium is stretched between the first casing and the second casing by passing through inside of the hinge portion.

22. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 19, wherein with the plugs of the optical transmission medium and the optical element parts fitted to the receptacles, respectively, one surface of one of the plugs, one surface of one of the optical element parts and one surface of one of the receptacles are placed so as to be substantially flush with one another.

23. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 19, wherein each of the optical element parts has a light emitting element and a light receiving element, andthe optical transmission medium is provided two in number, where one optical transmission medium optically couples the light emitting element of the first casing and the light receiving element of the second casing to each other while the other optical transmission medium optically couples the light receiving element of the first casing and the light emitting element of the second casing to each other.

24. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 21, wherein the optical transmission medium is provided at least two in number, each of the optical transmission mediums being provided with the plugs, where adjacent ones of the plugs are coupled to each other by a foldable bending portion.

25. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 21, wherein the optical transmission medium is provided at least two in number, each of the optical transmission mediums being provided with the plugs, where adjacent ones of the plugs have engagement portions, respectively, which are separably engageable with each other.

26. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 19, wherein the receptacles have through holes into which the optical element parts are to be fitted, respectively.

27. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 26, wherein the receptacles and the optical element parts have fixing-use engagement portions, respectively, which are to be engaged with and fixed to each other in a state that the optical element parts are fitted to the receptacles, respectively.

28. The portable telephone as claimed in claim 26, wherein the receptacles and the optical element parts have positioning-use engagement portions, respectively, which are to be engaged with and positioned to each other in a state that the optical element parts are fitted to the receptacles, respectively.

29. Electronic equipment comprising: a first casing having a display panel;a second casing which has an operation panel and which is coupled to the first casing so as to be foldable or developable; andan optical signal transmission section for performing signal transmission between the first casing and the second casing by optical signals.