The present invention relates to a portable terminal device, and in particular, a portable terminal device using a thin planar housing.
In recent years, portable terminal devices such as mobile phones and smart phones have become widespread. In general, portable terminal devices are often carried around for use by users. When a user, for example, accidentally drops a portable terminal device, a strong impact is exerted on the portable terminal device.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for a liquid crystal device capable of preventing deterioration of the orientation property and the image quality of the liquid crystal panel even when a strong impact is exerted on the liquid crystal device. In the liquid crystal device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a vibration impact resistance unit in which two impact absorbing spaces are disposed on both sides of a liquid crystal panel for preventing an impact exerted on a liquid crystal main body from being transmitted to the liquid crystal panel is fixed to a fixing component. Then, by fixing this fixing component to which the vibration impact resistance unit is fixed to a first exterior component that forms the outer surface of the liquid crystal device main body, the vibration impact resistance unit is indirectly fixed to the first exterior component in order to prevent a strong impact exerted on the liquid crystal device main body from being transmitted to the liquid crystal panel.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique for a lightweight and high-rigidity housing for a portable terminal device that enables a reduction of the number of components and assembly man-hours when an upper part and a bottom part of the housing are fastened by screws.
Patent literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H10-90656
Patent literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-281069
In recent years, portable terminal devices such as mobile phones and smart phones have been becoming thinner and thinner. However, as portable terminal devices become thinner, the strength of the portable terminal devices is lowered and hence the impact resistance thereof is lowered. Regarding this problem, it is possible to provide a portable terminal device capable of achieving a reduction in the thickness and an improvement in the impact resistance of the portable terminal device by configuring a housing of the portable terminal device with rigid material (e.g., metal material or carbon composite material).
However, when the housing of the portable terminal device is formed by using metal material or carbon composite material, there is a problem that a sensitivity of an antenna disposed in the portable terminal device is reduced, because these materials are conductive materials. Regarding this problem, it is possible to suppress the reduction of the sensitivity of the antenna by using material that transmits radio waves in a place corresponding to a place where the antenna is disposed in the housing. However, when the material that transmits radio waves is used in a part of the housing, there is a problem that the rigidity and the impact resistance of the portable terminal device are reduced because the material that transmits radio waves would be resin material or the like that has low rigidity.
In view of the above-described problem, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal device capable of improving the impact resistance of the portable terminal device without reducing the sensitivity of the antenna.
A portable terminal device according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a display section and a housing to which the display section is fixed, wherein the housing includes: a housing main body that contains a conductive material and is formed with a cut-out part in a place corresponding to a place where an antenna is disposed at an end of the housing; a first component that is arranged at the cut-out part and contains material that transmits radio waves; and a second component that is formed so as to surround the first component at the end of the housing and has a higher rigidity than that of the first component.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a portable terminal device capable of improving the impact resistance of the portable terminal device without reducing the sensitivity of the antenna.
Exemplary embodiments according to the present invention are explained hereinafter with reference to the drawings.
In the potable terminal device 1 according to this exemplary embodiment, a frame component 5, a battery 6, a substrate 7, and antennas 9_1 and 9_2 are housed in a space that is formed by joining a display section 4 with a housing 10. The portable terminal device 1 according to this exemplary embodiment may be, for example, a smart phone, a tablet-type portable terminal device, a mobile phone, a game machine, an electronic book reader, or the like.
As shown in
Further, as shown in
The battery 6 is, for example, a lithium-ion secondary battery. Further, a circuit component 8 is provided on the substrate 7. For example, the circuit component 8 is disposed on the surface of the substrate 7 to which the display section 4 is faced. Examples of the circuit component 8 include an integrated circuit device such as a processor, a memory, and a communication module, and an image sensing device for a camera.
Since the frame component 5 is a component for holding the battery 6 and the substrate 7, the frame component 5 needs to have a certain strength. Therefore, the frame component 5 is preferably formed by using metal material. Examples of the material for the frame component 5 include magnesium alloys, aluminum, aluminum alloys, and stainless steel. Note that to reduce the weight of the portable terminal device 1, the frame component 5 is preferably formed by using a magnesium alloy. Alternatively, the frame component 5 may be formed by using resin material, provided that the certain strength is ensured.
Further, the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 are disposed in the ends of the housing 10. Although the two antennas 9_1 and 9_2 are disposed in both ends in the longitudinal direction of the housing 10 in the example shown in
It is preferable that the housing main body 11 be formed by using the rigid material to maintain the strength of the portable terminal device 1. For example, the housing main body 11 can be formed of carbon composite material (CFRP: Carbon Fibers Reinforced Plastics). The carbon composite material is composite material in which the amount of carbon contained therein is 50% (v/v) or greater, and contains an inorganic binder such as silica and alumina, fibers, and so on. The carbon composite material has both a high strength and a light weight. Alternatively, the housing main body 11 may be formed by using metal material such as aluminum, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, or the like.
Since the carbon composite material that configures the housing main body 11 is a conductive material, the radio waves would be blocked. That is, the housing main body 11 would have a shielding property. For this reason, in the portable terminal device according to this exemplary embodiment, cut-out parts are formed in a place corresponding to a place where the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 are disposed at the housing main body 11. Further, first components 12 and 15 that are formed by using the materials that transmit radio waves are arranged at the cut-out parts. This configuration makes it possible to prevent the radio waves from being blocked and to suppress the reduction of the sensitivity of the antennas. For example, insulating material such as resin material or the like is used for the material that configures the first components 12 and 15.
In this case, the first components 12 and 15 formed by using resin material are weaker than the housing main body 11 formed by the carbon composite material. When the first components 12 and 15 are arranged in the ends of the housing 10, the strength of the housing 10 becomes weakened. Thus, when an impact is exerted on the ends of the housing 10, the effect of impact reaches to the antennas 9_1 and 9_2, and thus the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 may be broken. For this reason, in the portable terminal device according to this exemplary embodiment, second components 13 and 16 that have higher rigidity than those of the first components 12 and 15 are formed at the ends of the housing to protect the first components 12 and 15 and the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 from the external impact. That is, the second components 13 and 16 are formed so as to surround the first components 12 and 15 at the ends of the housing 10.
In other words, as shown in
Here, resin material that has higher rigidity than the first components 12 and 15 can be used as the material of the second components 13 and 16. In the case where the second components 13 and 16 are arranged in an area where the second components 13 and 16 have no influence on the receiving sensitivity of the antenna 9_1 and 9_2, the second components 13 and 16 can be formed by using metal material such as aluminum, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, or the like, and carbon composite material. Further, the rigidity of the second components 13 and 16 can be increased compared with the rigidity of the first components 12 and 15 by thickening the thickness of the second components 13 and 16 compared with the thickness of the first components 12 and 15. In this case, the same resin material as that used for the first components 12 and 15 can be used as the material for the second components 13 and 16.
The housing 10 including the housing main body 11 formed by the carbon composite material, the first components 12 and 15 formed by the resin material, and the second components 13 and 16 formed by the high-rigidity material can be formed by, for example, placing the housing main body 11 formed by the carbon composite material in a predetermined part of a die for the housing 10 and then performing two-color injection molding for the first components 12 and 15 formed by the resin material and the second components 13 and 16 formed by the high-rigidity material.
Note that, in the example shown in
Further, when the housing main body 11 is formed by using the carbon composite material, the housing main body 11 can be configured as follows. The carbon composite material contains carbon fibers and has such properties that the strength is large along the direction of the carbon fibers. Therefore, by arranging carbon fibers in the longitudinal direction of the housing 11, the strength in the longitudinal direction of the housing 11 can be improved, thus improving the resistance to impacts that would be exerted when the portable terminal device is dropped.
In this case, it is possible to further improve the strength in the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11 by arranging the direction of the carbon fibers in the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11, the carbon fibers being disposed at the outside (i.e., front surface and rear surface of the housing main body 11), not at the middle part in the thickness direction of the housing main body 11.
That is, when the housing main body 11 is formed by stacking a plurality of carbon fiber layers, it is possible to improve the strength in the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11 by arranging the direction of the carbon fibers of the carbon fiber layers disposed at the front surface and the rear surface of the housing main body 11 in the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11.
For example, in a case where the housing main body 11 is formed by stacking four layers of the carbon fiber layers, the direction of the carbon fibers of the carbon fiber layers disposed at the front surface and the rear surface of the housing main body 11 may be arranged in the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11, and the direction of the carbon fibers of two carbon fiber layers disposed at the middle part of the housing main body 11 may be arranged in the direction intersecting the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11. This configuration makes it possible to further improve the strength in the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11, while maintaining the strength in the direction intersecting the longitudinal direction of the housing main body 11.
Further, as shown in
As mentioned above, in the portable terminal device according to this exemplary embodiment, the first components 12 and 15 that are formed by using the materials that transmit radio waves are arranged in a place corresponding to a place where the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 are disposed. This configuration makes it possible to prevent the radio waves received by the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 from being blocked. Further, the second components 13 and 16 that have higher rigidity than that of the first components 12 and 15 are formed at the ends of the housing 10. This configuration makes it possible to protect the antennas 9_1 and 9_2 and the first components 12 and 15 from the impact exerted on the ends of the housing 10.
Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a portable terminal device capable of improving the impact resistance of the portable terminal device without reducing the sensitivity of the antenna.
Next, other examples of the portable terminal device according to the exemplary embodiment are explained hereinafter. For example, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Thus, by configuring the second component 53 to contact the housing main body 51 at the ends 57_1 and 57_2 of the cut-out part, the impact exerted on the second component 53 can be received by the ends 57_1 and 57_2 of the housing main body 51. Therefore, the impact exerted on the first component 52 and the antenna 59 can be reduced.
As shown in
Thus, configuring the second component 63 to contact the housing main body 61 at the ends 65_1 and 65_2 of the protruding parts 64_1 and 64_2 and at the ends 67_1 and 67_2 of the cut-out part, the impact exerted on the second component 63 can be received by the ends 65_1, 65_2, 67_1, and 67_2 of the housing main body 61. Therefore, the impact exerted on the first component 62 and the antenna 69 can be reduced.
As shown in
Note that, in
Although the present invention is explained above with reference to exemplary embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described exemplary embodiments. Various modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the invention.
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patent application No. 2012-54245, filed on Mar. 12, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1 Portable Terminal Device
2 Panel (Touch Panel)
3 Display Panel
4 Display Section
5 Frame Component
6 Battery
7 Substrate
8 Circuit Component
9_1, 9_2 Antennas
10 Housing
11 Housing Main Body
12, 15 First Components
13, 16 Second Components
17_1, 17_2, 18_1, 18_2 Protruding Parts
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2012-054245 | Mar 2012 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2012/007936 | 12/12/2012 | WO | 00 |