The present invention relates to a rotation support mechanism to be used for an opening and closing support unit of a mobile terminal such as a mobile telephone and an electronic notebook. More particularly, it concerns a rotation support mechanism which has such an efficient opening operation function that, when a main body and a cover superposed longitudinally are open-operated or close-operated, the cover is allowed to be stopped in rotation in a lateral position with a 90-degree rotation in the plane as well as in a longitudinal position with a 180-degree rotation in the plane, based upon a longitudinally elongated main body, by a one-touch process, and a mobile terminal using such a mechanism.
The following description will discuss, for example, a rotation support mechanism that supports a cover of a mobile telephone so as to be opened and closed.
In general, in the mobile telephone that incorporates the rotation support mechanism of this type so as to open and close the cover, a middle-bending type rotation support mechanism (cover open/close mechanism) has been known in which: a main body and a cover are opened from a superposed state with the main body and the cover being folded into two parts and superposed on each other, in a superposing direction of the cover onto the main body, with a rotation shaft of a rotation supporting unit serving as an open/close fulcrum (for example, see Patent Document 1).
However, in the case when the cover attached to one side of such a rotation support mechanism is operated to open, the user has to support the main body by one hand, while the cover is held by the other idle hand, and has to carry out the opening operation, with the result that both of the hands are required to open the cover. For this reason, it is difficult to easily open and close the cover.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-28138
Moreover, in recent years, as shown in
In this case, from a state in which the mobile telephone is held by one hand, the cover on the upper side of the superposed parts is pushed by the one hand so that the main body and the cover are offset step by step longitudinally; thus, the cover can be easily grabbed and the succeeding cover rotating operation is easily carried out.
However, in this case also, it is not possible to operate to open the cover by using one hand to the last stage, and both hands are required to completely rotate the cover by 180 degrees to an open position.
Moreover, in the rotation support mechanism that opens and closes the cover in a direction in the plane with the cover being superposed on the upper face of the main body, its structure tends to become bulky since the rotation axis is vertically directed due to the opening and closing structure of the cover, with the result that it becomes difficult to make the mobile telephone thinner.
Moreover, it is necessary to devise the rotation amount and the rotation direction of the cover properly so that upon opening and closing the main body and the cover, it becomes possible to prevent the wiring connecting these from being twisted in the rotation direction, with the result that preventing the wiring from being twisted causes a limitation in achieving a thinner product.
Furthermore, in the case when a display function for allowing not only stationary images, but also motion images such as television images to be outputted to the display device of a mobile telephone to give further entertainments is prepared, it is possible to make the mobile telephone itself laterally oriented to provide a laterally elongated display device suitable for displaying picture images.
However, the mobile telephone is normally designed to have a longitudinally elongated shape so as to be easily carried by one hand. For this reason, in an attempt to set the display device in a lateral orientation to view images, the mobile telephone itself has to be laterally oriented, and the laterally oriented telephone is difficult to carry by one hand, and when the viewing state in the lateral orientation continues for a long time, the hand gets tired and the tiring posture has to be kept for a long time.
For this reason, as shown in
However, in order to open the cover from the closed position with the main body and the cover being closed to the open position with the cover being position-determined so as to be laterally oriented, the supporting structure used for setting the cover of the mobile telephone in the lateral orientation needs to have processes, such as raising the cover to the intermediate open position in the bending direction, bending the cover laterally and further rotating the cover by 90 degrees, with the result that many operation processes are required and time consuming tasks are required until the cover has been laterally oriented, failing to provide an easy method. Moreover, it is not possible to stop the cover at a desired angle (for example, 90 degrees) in the middle of the cover opening or closing operation.
In order to solve these problems, the present invention provides a rotation supporting function that allows the cover to rotate semi-automatically from the closed position to the open position, that is, a lateral position or a longitudinal position, and the objective of the present invention is to provide a rotation support mechanism by which the user is allowed to operate the cover to open to a desired open position by one hand through a one-touch process, and a mobile terminal using such a mechanism.
The present invention relates to a rotation support mechanism that allows a cover to rotate in a direction in a plane from a closed position with a longitudinally elongated main body and the cover being superposed on each other in the superposed state as it is, and also allows the cover to be stopped at an open position with a certain rotated angle, and the rotation support mechanism is provided with: an eccentric cam that rotates in the plane direction in an eccentric manner, and has a closed-position-related portion formed at the maximum eccentric rotation position on one of the cam faces that has been rotated to have an orientation different by 180 degrees, and an open-position related portion formed at the minimum eccentric rotation position on the other cam face; a pressing means that presses the cam face of the eccentric cam by setting a pressing direction in the same direction as a direction formed by connecting the two positions of the closed-position-related portion and the open-position-related portion that have different orientations by 180 degrees through the shaft center of the eccentric cam, and, upon coming into contact with the closed-position-related portion on the cam face, increases the pressing load and the rotation regulating force to the eccentric cam so as to stop the rotation operation of the eccentric cam so that the pressing load to the eccentric cam is lowered as coming closer to the open-position-related portion, while, upon coming into contact with the open-position-related portion on the cam face, it increases the rotation regulating force to stop the rotation operation of the eccentric cam; and an angle regulating means that stops the rotation of the eccentric cam at a certain angle regulation position in the middle of the rotation of the eccentric cam in an eccentric manner, and in this structure, one of the eccentric cam and the pressing means is attached to the main body, and the other is attached to the cover so as to rotation-support the cover so that the cover is allowed to stop the rotation at the closed position, the open position and the angle regulation position.
In this case, the eccentric cam is allowed to rotate in a direction in the plane in an eccentric manner, and the rotary force of the eccentric cam is generated by the pressing force of the pressing means that presses the cam face of the eccentric cam. More specifically, the amount of eccentricity defers depending on the eccentric rotation position of the eccentric cam, and since the pressing load differs in proportion to the amount of eccentricity, the pressing load becomes higher at the maximum eccentric rotation position with a large amount of eccentricity to cause a force to shift to the minimum eccentric rotation position with a low pressing load so that the pressing means applies a rotary force to the eccentric cam.
Therefore, in the case when the maximum eccentric rotation position with a high pressing load at which the rotation regulating force is increased to stop the rotation is determined as the closed-position-related portion of the cover, by allowing the eccentric cam to slightly rotate from the closed-position-related portion, the rotation regulation to the eccentric cam is released so that the eccentric cam is allowed to energetically rotate in the opening direction by 180 degrees. Accordingly, the cover integral with the eccentric cam is allowed to automatically rotate by 180 degrees to open. This enables the user to carry out the opening operation through a one-touch operation by slightly pushing the cover by one hand, making it possible to improve the opening operability of the mobile terminal. In contrast, upon returning the cover to the original closed state, the cover is returned to the original state by rotating the cover by 180 degrees by the hand in the reverse rotation direction.
Moreover, in addition to the application of the eccentric cam as the cam face in its peripheral face, a concave groove and a convex stripe that guide the pressing means may be formed on at least one of the upper and lower faces along the peripheral face, and these concave groove and convex stripe may be used on the cam face.
In accordance with the above-mentioned pressing means, for example, by applying a spring pressing force onto the corresponding position of the cam face of the eccentric cam, the pressing force is always applied to the eccentric cam. Consequently, the pressing force is made different depending on the contact position to the eccentric cam, and the eccentric cam is allowed to have a different rotation direction depending on the contact angle to the cam face so that the eccentric cam is allowed to make a leftward rotation or a rightward rotation.
In this manner, by utilizing the pressing force of the pressing means as a rotary force in the cover opening direction, the cover can be automatically rotated from the closed position to the open position. Moreover, with respect to the correspondence between the eccentric cam and the pressing means, an engaging structure in which the two members are allowed to engage with each other or separate from each other at one point of the eccentric cam in the rotation direction may be used, and, for example, by making the concave section of the eccentric cam and the roller face of the pressing roller in concave/convex contact with each other, the cover can be accurately position-determined at one point of the rotation stop position at which the concave/convex contact is made. Since the pressing roller is allowed to follow the cam face while being made in rotation-contact the cam face, it is possible to obtain a smooth contacting operation. Moreover, besides the pressing roller, a convex portion that has a shape capable of sliding without rotating may be installed in place of the pressing roller.
The main body and the cover that are superposed on each other and coupled with each other are arranged so as to rotate relative to each other through the rotation support mechanism; therefore, members constituting the eccentric cam and the pressing means are respectively attached to one of the main body and the cover and the other in a corresponding manner, and these attached sides may be reversed.
In accordance with the present invention, an eccentric cam, which is allowed to rotate in a direction in the plane, and suitable for a thinner structure, can be adopted, and a pressing means, which presses the cam peripheral face of the eccentric cam in a direction in the plane, and is low in its bulk and suitably used for a thinner structure can be used in combination. Therefore, the resulting mechanism is not bulky vertically, and makes it possible to provide a small-size rotation support mechanism and consequently to provide a thinner mobile terminal.
Moreover, since the eccentric cam is position-regulated at an angle regulated position by the angle regulating means, the open position of the cover that is rotated in cooperation with the movement of the eccentric cam can be stopped in rotation not only at the closed position of 0 degree and the open position of 180 degrees, but also at a certain angle in between in the middle of the rotation. For this reason, the cover can be stopped in rotation at a position with a desired angle, such as in a lateral orientation.
Consequently, even when a longitudinally elongated display device that is the same as the cover is mounted, by allowing the cover to be laterally oriented, the display device can be viewed in the same laterally elongated state. In this case, since the longitudinally elongated main body remains in the longitudinal direction, as it is, this structure is suitable for such a case as to watch television images for a long time.
The angular regulating means may have a structure in which the pressing means that continuously gives a pressing force to the peripheral face of the eccentric cam is compatibly used as the angle regulating member so that the eccentric cam and the pressing means may be made in concave/convex contact with each other at a certain angle to be position-regulated. Moreover, an angle regulating member such as a plunger may be made in concave/convex contact with the upper face or the lower face of the eccentric cam at a certain angle so as to be position-regulated.
In accordance with an angle regulating means in another mode of the present invention, at least one intermediate regulating concave section that is made in concave/convex contact with the pressing means to rotation-regulate the eccentric cam in the middle of the rotation may be installed on the cam face through which the eccentric cam is allowed to rotate from the closed-position-related portion to the open-position-related portion by 180 degrees.
In accordance with the present invention, when the intermediate regulating concave section is formed on the cam face of the eccentric cam, the eccentric cam can be stopped in rotation at the position of the intermediate regulating concave section. For example, when the intermediate regulating concave sections are respectively formed on the cam face in the left rotation direction and the right rotation direction of the eccentric cam, the cover that rotates in cooperation with the movement of the eccentric cam can be stopped in rotation at a position with a certain angle in the middle of rotation of the cover in the left rotation direction as well as at a position with a certain angle in the middle of rotation thereof in the right rotation direction.
Moreover, not only one, but also a plurality of intermediate regulating concave sections may be formed on the cam face of the eccentric cam. For example, by forming the intermediate regulating concave sections at every constant angle on the cam face, the eccentric cam can be stopped in rotation at every constant angle. Therefore, the cover can be stopped in rotation at a desired angle so that the application modes for the users are further increased.
Here, with respect to the concave/convex contact at this time, by changing factors, such as the depth and the width of the concave/convex shapes and the tilting face, the positioning precision and the operation touch (click-touch) at the time of open/close-operating the cover can be changed to desired values. With respect to the concave/convex contact, one of the eccentric cam and the pressing means may be provided with the concave section, with the other being provided with the convex portion, and even when the concave and convex states are reversed, the same functions and effects can be obtained. Moreover, with this concave/convex contact mode, the cover can be stopped in rotation in a stable manner.
In this mode of the present invention, the intermediate regulating concave section may be formed at a rotation intermediate position on the cam face of the eccentric cam with the eccentric cam being located after making a 90-degree rotation from the closed-position-related portion.
In accordance with this invention, since the intermediate regulating concave section is prepared at the rotation intermediate position on the cam face at which the eccentric cam is located after making a 90-degree rotation, the eccentric cam can be stopped at a position where it is located after making a 90-degree rotation so that the cover is stopped in rotation in a lateral direction. Therefore, the display device mounted on the cover is placed in a laterally elongated state, that is, a lateral orientation that is suitable for such a case as to watch television images.
Moreover, in the case when the cover is rotated rightward as well as leftward, by forming the intermediate regulating concave section only on the cam peripheral face in one of the rotation directions, the cover can be rotated immediately from the closed position to the open position with the lateral orientation after making a 90-degree rotation in the one of the rotation directions. In the other rotation direction, the cover can be rotated immediately from the closed position to the open position with the longitudinal orientation after making a 180-degree rotation in the other rotation direction. In this manner, the open position can be selected between 90 degrees and 180 degrees depending on the cover rotation directions.
By using a mobile terminal having such a rotation support mechanism, when the cover is in a stand-by state in the closed position with 0 degree, since the pressing force of the pressing means exerts a rotary force from the cover closing direction toward the cover opening direction; therefore, when the cover is slightly rotated from the closed position so as to release the rotation regulation, the cover is allowed to energetically rotate in the opening direction, and stopped in rotation at an angle regulation position, for example, at 90 degrees in the middle of the rotation. When the cover is again pressed upward by a finger tip in the opening direction from this state, the angle regulation is released, and consequently, the cover is again allowed to rotate in the opening direction, and stopped in rotation at an open position with 180 degrees to open.
In contrast, in the case when the cover is in an open position with 180 degrees, and is open, by rotating the cover slightly by the hand in the returning direction to release the rotation regulation, the cover is returned in the closing direction, and stopped in rotation at an angle regulation position, for example, at 90 degrees in the middle of the rotation. When the cover is again returned in the closing direction from this state, the angle regulation is released, and consequently, the cover is allowed to smoothly rotate in the closing direction, and stopped in rotation at a closed position with 0 degree to be closed. In this manner, the user is allowed to easily operate the cover of a mobile terminal to open by one hand, and also to view the display device on the cover that is longitudinally or laterally oriented. Thus, the mobile terminal can be used more conveniently.
Upon operating the cover to open, the user can simply press the cover with a finger tip of one hand holding the mobile terminal so that the opening operation is automatically carried out; thus, it becomes possible to improve the opening operability of the mobile terminal. In contrast, upon returning the cover to the original position, the user can rotate the opened cover in the closing direction reversely by the hand so that the cover is returned to the original position.
Moreover, with respect to the mobile terminal, a mobile telephone constituted by a main body that is supported by the rotation support mechanism and a cover, a mobile apparatus such as an electronic notebook, and the like can be listed.
In accordance with the present invention, with respect to a cover attached to a main body in its plane, an opening operation of the cover in a direction in the plane is carried out not manually, but semi-automatically; thus, a rotation support mechanism having a high application performance is prepared so that the user is allowed to operate the cover to open by one hand. Moreover, this is further provided with a rotation stop function in multiple stages capable of stopping the rotation of the cover at a certain angle in the middle of the rotation so that it is possible to provide a mobile terminal that is suitable for a holding state for a long time.
Provision is made so that, when a cover is rotated in a plane in one rotation direction or the other rotation direction based upon a reference position formed by a longitudinally elongated main body and stopped in rotation, the cover can be stopped in rotation in a stable state at a longitudinal open position or a lateral open position, and the cover opening operation is semi-automatically carried out.
Referring to attached drawings, the following description will discuss one embodiment of the present invention.
These Figures show a mobile telephone of a horizontal rotation type, and in
The outside surfaces, such as upper surfaces and side faces of the main body 12 and the cover 13, are equipped with a display device, not shown, used for utilizing various pieces of electronic information including telephone information and electronic mails, an input device and an antenna.
As shown in
Upon rotating the cover 13 in the plane direction, as shown in
In the same manner, as shown in
The rotation support mechanism 14 is provided with a laterally symmetrical supporting mechanism of a horizontally rotation type provided with a rotary force applying function used for rotating the cover 13 by 180 degrees from the closed position to the open position. As shown in
The base 15, which has a square plate shape, is integrally secured onto a concave section 12a (see
First, in the shaft supporting cylinder 24, a cylinder member is attached to the center of the upper surface of the base 15 in a manner so as to protrude with a short height, and a caulking tube 23 is inserted and guided on the inner circumferential face side of the shift supporting cylinder 24. Moreover, an eccentric cam 19, which will be described later, a rotary disc 20 and a plate 22 are inserted and guided on the outer circumferential face side of the shaft supporting cylinder 24, and by caulking the caulking tube 23, the eccentric cam 19 and the like are shaft-supported in a manner so as to freely rotate thereon.
A round guide groove 25 having a concave shape in its cross-section is formed on the periphery forming a concentric circle of the shaft supporting cylinder 24 in a manner so as to protrude therefrom. Moreover, the interlocking member 21, which will be described later, is fitted to the round guide groove 25 so as to be slide-guided in the circular direction. Furthermore, spring stopping portions 26a and 26b are formed in a protruding manner on one end side of the right and left sides of the base 15 centered on the shaft supporting cylinder 24, and one end of each of the parallel springs 16a and 16b that will be described later is connected to this portion. Moreover, a reversed L-letter shaped member is formed in a protruding manner on the other end side of the right and left sides of the base 15 so that slide guide grooves 27a and 27b are formed, and one portion of the slider 17 which will be described later is slide-guided therein. Here, between a pair of right and left spring stopping portions 26a and 26b and the slide guide grooves 27a and 27b, thin elongated spring housing openings 28a and 28b that support the lower surface sides of the springs and guide the expansion and contraction of the string are respectively formed.
Next, the following description will discuss the parallel springs 16a and 16b.
The parallel springs 16a and 16b are allowed to have the same shape laterally, and placed on the base 15 in parallel with each other. The parallel springs 16a and 16b, which have a thin elongated coil shape, are allowed to contract in a linear direction, with one end to be expanded and contracted being engaged and stopped by each of the spring stopping portions 26a and 26b, with the other end being engaged and stopped by each of the spring stopping portions 29a and 29b of the slider 17, which will be described later.
Moreover, an extension action is exerted on the other end of each of the parallel springs 16a and 16b based upon a reference position in expansion and contraction formed by the spring stopping portions 26a and 26b on the base 15. With this arrangement, the slider 17 on the other end side is allowed to have a set pressing force in the same direction as the extending direction of the parallel springs 16a and 16b so that pressing operations are carried out toward the eccentric cam 19. Moreover, since the lower surface sides of the parallel springs 16a and 16b are housed and guided in the spring housing openings 28a and 28b, the parallel springs 16a and 16b are allowed to expand and contract in a stable manner.
The above-mentioned slider 17 has a flat plate shape in an E-letter form, and spring stopping portions 29a and 29b are formed on two end members 17a and 17b having the E-letter form, and the other ends of the parallel springs 16a and 16b are respectively engaged and stopped by these spring stopping portions 29a and 29b. Thus, the slider 17 is pulled in the pressing direction, and allowed to slide in the expanding and contracting directions of the springs 16a and 16b.
Moreover, on the upper surface of the base 15 that opposes the sliding direction of the two end members 17a and 17b of the slider 17, slide guide grooves 27a and 27b are formed between the upper surface of the base 15 and the reversed L-letter member raised upright therefrom so that the slider 17 is guided so as to slide in a stable manner.
Moreover, a pressing roller 18 is shaft-supported to a protruding member 17c that sticks out in the center of the E-letter form of the slider 17 by a pin 18a so as to be freely rotated in the plane direction. For this reason, the pressing roller 18 is positioned in the center of the slider 17, and one point of the pressing roller 18 is allowed to always press the eccentric cam 19, which will be described later.
As shown in
In this case, when a convex shaped roller face of the pressing roller 18 that protrudes with a circular shape is made in concave/convex contact with the close-related concave section 31 having a larger amount of eccentricity of the eccentric cam 19, the spring pressure becomes higher to increase a pressing load and a rotation-regulating force to the eccentric cam 19 so that the rotation of the eccentric cam 19 is regulated. As a result, at the time when the pressing roller 18 has been made in concave/convex contact with the close-related concave section 31 of the eccentric cam 19, the rotation of the eccentric cam 19 is stopped.
Moreover, upon rotation of the eccentric cam 19, as the pressing roller 18 is coming closer from the close-related concave section 31 toward the open-related concave section 32, the amount of eccentricity of the eccentric cam 19 becomes smaller; therefore, the pressing load to the eccentric cam 19 becomes lower. Then, when the pressing roller 18 has been made in concave/convex contact with the open-related concave section 32, the amount of eccentricity of the eccentric cam 19 becomes smaller to make the spring pressure weaker, thereby also making the pressing load to the eccentric cam 19 weaker; however, since the rotation regulating force derived from the mutual concave/convex relationship is high, the rotation of the eccentric cam 19 is regulated. For this reason, when the pressure roller 18 has been made in concave/convex contact with the open-related concave section 32 of the eccentric cam 19, the rotation of the eccentric cam 19 is stopped.
Moreover, when the close-related concave section 31 and the open-related concave section 32 of the pressing roller 18 and the eccentric cam 19 are made in concave/convex contact with each other, the pressing roller 18 moves in the pressing direction integrally with the slider 17 to exert a pressing force toward the center of the eccentric cam 19. For this reason, upon receipt of this pressing force, the eccentric cam 19 has its rotation regulating force increased, and the loads to the rotation directions on the two sides are balanced with each other so that the pressing balance is properly maintained. As a result, when the pressing roller 18 is placed at each of the positions related to the corresponding concave sections 31 and 32, no rotation force is generated in the eccentric cam 19.
Moreover, a plurality of engaging protrusions 33 used for stopping the rotation are formed on the peripheral upper surface of the shaft hole 30 so as to protrude therefrom, and a rotation disc 20 and a plate 22, which will be described later, are integrally engaged and secured onto these engaging protrusions 33 from above. The above-mentioned rotation disc 20 is fitted from above to the peripheral edge of the shaft hole 30 of the eccentric cam 19, with the engaging concave sections 34 being engaged with the engaging protrusions 33 of the eccentric cam 19, so that the rotation disc 20 is integrally engaged and secured to the eccentric cam 19. Moreover, a press-rotating member 35 is extended and placed in the radial direction on one portion of the peripheral face of the rotation disc 20, and upon rotation of the press-rotating member 35, an interlocking member 21 is press-rotated so as to be pivoted. Moreover, an up-right pin 36 is attached to the upper face of the rotation disc 20 so as to protrude therefrom, and a press-in hole 40 of a plate 22, which will be described later, is press-in attached to the up-right pin 36 to be secured thereto so that the rotation disc 20 and the plate 22 are integrally attached to each other.
The interlocking member 21 has a bow shape that follows the arc shape having the same curvature as that of the round guide groove 25, and is engaged with the round guide groove 25 so as to slide therein. Thus, when the rotation disc 20 is rotated, it is pressed by the press-rotating member 35 that rotates integrally with the rotation disc 20, and rotated in association therewith in the same direction. Moreover, one end face 21a and the other end face 21b having a thin elongated bow shape of the interlocking member 21 are formed on a position regulating face in the rotation direction so that the end portions 21a and 21b of the interlocking member 21 are position-regulated inside the round guide groove 25.
The round guide groove 25 is placed in a manner so as to surround the outside of the eccentric cam 19 located in the center, and formed into a round shape having such a size as not to come into contact with the eccentric cam 19 located on the center side even when it is eccentrically rotated. Moreover, an advancing and retreating passage 25a, formed by cutting out one portion of the round shape, is opened at a position opposing to the pressing roller 18 that faces the eccentric cam 19 and applies a pressing force from the outside of the round guiding groove 25 toward the eccentric cam 19. With this arrangement, the pressing roller 18 is allowed to slide in the pressing direction.
Moreover, the guiding length of the round shape of the round guiding groove 25 is set to a guiding length capable of providing a rotation of about 350 degrees, prepared by deducting therefrom the length of the passage width formed by cutting out the portion of the pressing roller advancing and retreating passage 25a. The interlocking member 21 is allowed to rotate leftward or rightward within the rotation range of this guide length so as to shift cooperatively. Moreover, of the two guide ends in these rotation directions, a left rotation stopper 37 is attached to one end, and a right rotation stopper 38 is attached to the other end.
Thus, the interlocking member 21 rotates leftward or rightward cooperatively with the rotation disc 20. When the eccentric cam 19 attached integrally with the cover 13 has reached the open-related concave section 32, one end face 21a of the interlocking member 21 that has been cooperatively shifted is position-regulated by the left rotation stopper 37, or the other end face 21b of the interlocking member 21 is position-regulated by the right rotation stopper 38. For this reason, the exceeding rotation of the interlocking member 21 that tries to rotate in a manner so as to exceed the open-related concave section 32 is position-regulated.
Therefore, when the interlocking member 21 is rotation-regulated in one rotation direction or in the other rotation direction, the rotation disc 20 is also rotation-regulated in the same direction, thereby stopping the rotation at the open position of the cover 13.
The above-mentioned left rotation stopper 37 and right rotation stopper 38 are symmetrically formed laterally, and receive the interlocking member 21 that is shifted circularly inside the round guide groove 25 so as to rotation-regulate it. In contrast, the press-rotating member 35 of the rotation disc 20 is allowed to rotate at a position higher than the respective rotation stoppers 37 and 38. For this reason, the press-rotating member 35 is not made in contact with the respective rotation stoppers 37 and 38, and is allowed to rotate within 360 degrees so that no problems arise with respect to the rotation directions.
Thus, the rotation disc 20 at a stand-by position is maintained in a state capable of cooperatively rotating the interlocking member 21 through the press-rotating member 35, and the cover 13, integrally attached with the rotation disc 20, is allowed to rotate either one of right and left rotation directions. In contrast, when the cover 13 is rotated by 180 degrees, and operated to open, one end face 21a or the other end face 21b of the interlocking member 21 is made in contact with either one of the rotation stoppers 37 and 38 so as to be rotation-regulated so that the rotation of the rotation disc 20 in the open position is regulated. Therefore, the cover 13 integrally attached to the rotation disc 20 through the plate 22, is prevented from being excessively rotated in the open position.
The above-mentioned plate 22 is provided with an engaging concave section 39 to be engaged with an engaging protrusion 33 of the eccentric cam 19, and is superposed from above to be integrally engaged. Moreover, upon engaging, the press-in hole 40 of the plate 22 is press-attached to the up-right pin 36 of the rotation disc 20 so that the rotation disc 20 and the plate 22 are integrally coupled. Moreover, by attaching coupling holes 41 formed on the two sides of the plate 22 to coupling pins, not shown, of the cover 13 so as to be secured thereto, the cover 13 is integrally attached, with the main body 12 and the cover 13 being integrally coupled with each other. Thus, the cover 13 is allowed to rotate integrally with the eccentric cam 19, the rotation disc 20 and the plate 22, around the shaft supporting cylinder 24 of the main body 12. As a result, the cover 13 is allowed to rotate leftward or rightward in a direction in the plane.
The caulking tube 23 is inserted on the inner circumferential face side of the shaft supporting cylinder 24 so that by caulking the upper and lower ends thereof, the plate 22, the rotation disc 20 and the eccentric cam 19 are coupled to the base 15 so as to be rotated.
Referring to operation explanatory drawings of
Normally, in the stand-by state of the mobile telephone 11, it is kept in a closed state (see
At this time, as shown in
In this case, the concave/convex contact state of the eccentric cam 19 between the close-related concave section 31 of the eccentric cam 19 and the pressing roller 18 is slightly offset with the result that the fitted relationship at the mutual closed positions is offset. For this reason, the eccentric cam 19 starts to rotate rightward energetically in a manner so as to avoid the pressing force of the pressing roller 18 applied thereto with a high load. Then, upon receipt of the pressing force, the eccentric cam 19 is allowed to rotate by 180 degrees instantaneously from the close-related concave section 31 to the open-related concave section 32.
Moreover, as shown in
In this manner, in the case when the maximum eccentric rotation position with a high pressing load is set to the close-related concave section 31 of the cover 13, by slightly rotating the eccentric cam 19 from the close-related concave section 31, the eccentric cam 19 is allowed to energetically rotate by 180 degrees. With this arrangement, by allowing the cover 13 integrally attached to the eccentric cam 19 to manually make an initial rotation, the cover 13 can be then automatically rotated by 180 degrees to be opened. For this reason, the user can carry out an opening operation through a one-touch process by slightly pressing the cover 13 by one hand so that the opening operability of the mobile telephone 11 is improved. In contrast, when the cover 13 is returned to the original closed state, the cover 13 is rotated with the hand by 180 degrees in the reversed rotation direction to return it to the original state.
Next, the following description will discuss the rotation regulating operation of the cover 13 to be carried out to regulate the amount of rotation when the 180-degree rotation is made in accordance with the above-mentioned opening operation.
When the cover 13 is in the closed state, the press-rotating member 35 of the rotation disc 20 is located in a stand-by position on the lower side of the eccentric cam in a stand-by state for rotation, as shown in
For this reason, when the cover 13 is operated by rotating rightward by 180 degrees to be opened, the excessive rightward rotation is regulated to maintain the open position. This makes it possible to regulate the excessive rotation operation of the cover 13. As shown in
Moreover, in the case when the opening operation is suspended during the opening operation of the cover 13, the interlocking member 21 is left interpolated at the middle position of the round guiding groove 25 as shown in
Moreover, since each of the rightward and leftward rotation amounts of the cover 13 is regulated to 180 degrees, the inner wiring is also regulated to movements within the rotation range of not more than 180 degrees so that the inner wiring is not subjected to an excessive twisting action. Consequently, even when the cover is frequently subjected to opening and closing operations, the wiring can be maintained in a stable manner.
The pressing structure of the rotation support mechanism 141 is provided with a coil-shaped single pressing spring 142 and a tilting lever 144 to which a pressing roller 143 is additionally attached, which are combined based upon the lever principle.
The pressing spring 142 is prepared as a single member to reduce the number of parts, and a base end portion of the coil-shaped thin elongated pressing spring 142 is engaged with and stopped by a spring engaging stop portion 145a that is formed at one corner on a base 145 so as to protrude therefrom, with a free end that is allowed to expand and contract based upon the base end being connected to the free end of the tilting lever 144, which will be described later, so as to be engaged and stopped thereby.
The above-mentioned tilting lever 144 is formed into an E-letter shape, and a base end of the tilting lever 144 is shaft-supported onto a corner portion which is diagonal to the spring engaging stop portion 145a on the base 145 through a support pin 146, so as to freely tilt thereon. The pressing roller 143 is shaft-supported onto a protruding member 144a that protrudes in the center of the E-letter-shaped tilting lever 144 so as to freely rotate in the plane direction.
The free end of the pressing spring 142 is connected to the spring engaging stop portion 145a formed on the free end of the tilting lever 144. With this arrangement, the tilting lever 144 is shaft-supported at the supporting pin 146 serving as a tilting fulcrum based upon the lever principle so as to freely tilt in the pressing direction. With this arrangement, the pressing roller 143 is pressed and urged in the pressing direction. Moreover, a tilting guide member 147 is placed in parallel with the upper surface of the base 145 in the tilting direction of the tilting lever 144 so as to guide the tilting movement. By using the pressing structure of this type, the same functions and effects as those of the aforementioned embodiment can be obtained as well.
The rotation support mechanism 152 is attached to a position at which both of overlapping portions of a main body 153 and a cover 154 that are made face to face with each other are longitudinally coupled and shaft-supported, and the shaft-supporting position of the rotation support mechanism 152 is placed on the side of the base ends 153a and 154a corresponding to one side in the length direction of the closed position along which the cover 154 is superposed on the main body 153 and closed. For this reason, when the cover 154 is rotated from the closed position to the opened position by changing the orientation by 180 degrees, with the rotation support mechanism 152 serving as a pivot fulcrum, the two tip portions 153b and 154b of the main body 153 and the cover 154 are made farthest apart from each other into a longitudinally elongated state so that the upper surface of the main body 153 is exposed.
When the cover 154 is in the opened position, the lengths of the main body 153 and the cover 154 are extended linearly with their orientations being changed respectively by 180 degrees, and the cover 154 tends to be placed in the most unstable supported state. For this reason, the rotation support mechanism 152 is allowed to have a run-out preventive function so as to prevent the cover 154 from being supported unstably.
As shown in
Next, the following description will discuss a run-out stopping unit 166 in the rotation support mechanism 152.
This run-out stopping unit 166 is constituted by small boss portions P1, P2, B1 to B4 that are placed on both of the opposing faces of the base 155 and the plate 163 in the superposing direction so as to be made face to face with each other from the respective two faces in an abutted manner.
On the plate 163 side shown in
In this structure, on the plate 163 side, the first boss portion P1 is allowed to have a first distance L1 that is longer from the shaft center portion 163a, and the second boss portion P2 is allowed to have a second distance L2 that is shorter from the shaft center portion 163a.
On the base 155 side shown in
In this structure also, on the base 155 side, the first boss portion B1 and the third boss portion B3 are allowed to have a first distance L1 that is longer from the shaft center portion 155a, and the second boss portion B2 and the fourth boss portion B4 are allowed to have a second distance L2 that is shorter from the shaft center portion 155a.
In this case, by preparing a plurality of butt portions of the boss portions longitudinally facing each other, the corresponding boss portions are made in contact with each other so that the contact stability between the upper plate 163 and the lower base 155 is enhanced. When the cover 154 is in the closed position, the opposing faces of the plate 163 and the base 155 are mutually made in contact with each other with point contacts between the first boss portions P1 and B1 as well as between the second boss portions P2 and B2 so that the possibility of wobbling between the upper plate 163 and the lower base 155 is eliminated, making it possible to eliminate wobbling of the cover 154 in the superposing direction.
Moreover, in the case when the cover 154 is rotated from the closed position of the cover 154 by 180 degrees to the open position, on the two opposing faces of the base 155 on the main body side and the plate 163 on the cover side, the first boss portion P1 and the second boss portion P2 sticking out on the tip end side of the plate 163 that has made a 180-degree rotation are made face to face with the third boss portion B3 and the fourth boss portion B4 sticking out on the tip end side of the base 155 in an abutted state.
In this manner, when the cover 154 is rotated by 180 degrees to the open or closed position, the boss portions are mutually made in contact with each other at the respective positions. For this reason, by simply making the boss portions sticking out in the superposing direction mutually in contact with each other locally, the possibility of wobbling between the upper and lower opposing faces can be eliminated so that the wobbling of the cover 154 can be completely prevented, thereby making it possible to provide stable opening and closing operation touches.
Moreover, the positions of the boss portions P1, P2, B1 to B4 at the respective butt portions are placed as spots at different positions that are not located on the same concentric circle on the plate 163 side and the base 155 side so that the boss portions P1, P2, and B1 to B4 at the respective butt portions are not placed on the same concentric circle. Consequently, since, even when the cover 154 is operated to rotate, no other boss portions are located in the rotation direction, it is possible to avoid the mutual interference among the boss portions P1, P2 and B1 to B4, and consequently to ensure a smooth rotation of the cover 154.
In the case when the cover 154 is in the closed position, an initial rotation force is manually applied toward the open position, and thereafter, pressing forces of the parallel springs 156a and 156b are exerted to carry out the rotation operation; therefore, the boss portions are made in a contact state that allows a slight degree of sliding. However, in the case when it is in the open position, since the pressing forces of the parallel springs 156a and 156b are lowered to cause an excessive reduction in a releasing torque, the butt height of the boss portions is preferably made lower at the open position than that at the closed position.
Moreover, in the closed position where the main body 153 and the cover 154 are superposed on each other, as shown in
Moreover, in the case when the cover 154 is operated to open, since the upper and lower boss portions P1, P2, B3 and B4 are mutually made in contact with each other to eliminate the possibility of wobbling, the wobbling can be completely prevented.
Moreover, between upper and lower opposing faces where the plate 163 attached to the cover 154 and the base 155 attached to the main body 153 are made face to face with each other, the aforementioned elastic ring 159 is interposed so as to exert a function for absorbing variations in up and down directions. This elastic ring 159 may be prepared as any member made from rubber, metal or the like, as long as it exerts elasticity in up and down directions, and by interposing the elastic ring 159, the contact stability of the cover 154 is improved, and the effect for preventing wobbling of the cover is also further enhanced.
The following description will discuss a tilt guiding function for the slider 157.
When the slider 157 is allowed to slide in the sliding direction, the slider 157 and the base 155 are rubbed with each other to wear due to the movements of the slider 157, resulting in a gap between the slider 157 and the base 155. The occurrence of this gap tends to cause the slider 157 to have an unstable sliding operation that is carried out in the slide width direction in a rattling manner. For this reason, the slider 157 is provided with a tilt guiding portion 167 and a center slide guiding portion 168 so as to ensure a stable sliding operation.
The tilt guiding portion 167 provides a tilt guiding function by tilting both of the base 155 and the slider 157 relative to each other. As shown in
Moreover, with the upper trapezoidal guide faces 171a and 171b of the slider 157 being mounted on the lower trapezoidal guide faces 169a and 169b of the base 155 so as to be made in concave/convex contact with each other vertically, these members are attached so as to freely slide thereon.
With this arrangement, as shown in
In particular, since the contact guide portions between the slider 157 and the base 155 are mutually made face to face with each other in a tilted manner, it is possible to obtain a contact-guiding function with respect to three-dimensional directions, and consequently to eliminate rattling in the slide-width direction; thus, it becomes possible to obtain a stable slide-guiding function with little contact variations. Moreover, since the tilt-guiding operations are carried out on the two sides in the slide width direction, slide-guiding functions that are exerted uniformly on the two side positions can be obtained.
The center slide guiding portion 168 is used for slide-guiding the base 155 and the slider 157 in the center portions in the slide width direction, and as shown in
Therefore, by simultaneously using the slide guiding functions of the total three portions, that is, the slide guiding portion 168 in the center in addition to the tilt guiding portions 167 on the two side, the slider 157 is allowed to smoothly slide in the pressing direction as also shown in
In the case when a mobile telephone 151 provided with the rotation support mechanism 152 having the above-mentioned structure is used, in the closed position with the main body 153 and the cover 154, as they are, being superposed on each other, the boss portions P1, P2, B1 and B2, which are made face to face with each other above and below the run-out stopping portion 166 are set in an abutted state so that the run-out preventive function is exerted by the boss portions P1, P2, B1 and B2, and the cover 154 is supported in a state free from the generation of even slight rattling.
Moreover, in the case when the cover 154 is operated to rotate from this closed position in the plane direction by 180 degrees to be opened, even if an applied force in the superposing direction is given, for example, to the shaft portion of the cover 154, during the opening operation or after the opening operation, the cover 154 is made free from unstable rattling by the boss-portion contacting function of the run-out stopping portion 166. Moreover, since the sliding function of the slider 157 that is allowed to slide upon rotation of the cover 154 is enhanced, it is possible to provide a stable open/close operation touch.
The following description will discuss another embodiment of the boss portions that form the run-out stopping portion of the rotation support mechanism.
On a plate 251 side shown in
In this case, the third boss portion P3 on the plate 251 side is made to have the shortest distance from the shaft center portion 251a, and this distance is set to the shortest distance L3 that is different from the aforementioned first distance L1 and second distance L2. In the same manner, the spot positions of the fifth boss portion B5 and the sixth boss portion B6 on the base 252 side are made to have the shortest distance from the shaft center portion 252a, and this distance is set to the shortest distance L3 that is different from the aforementioned first distance L1 and second distance L2.
In this manner, by installing not only the boss portions P1, P2, B1, B2 and B6 on the base end side centered on the shaft center portions 251a and 252a, but also the boss portions P3 and B3 to B5 on the tip side, it is possible to allow the boss portions to support the peripheral portion centered on the shaft center by using three supporting points, in the closed position of the cover as well as in the open position thereof; thus, it becomes possible to enhance the contact stabilizing function of the boss portions.
As shown in
In this case, the roller face of the pressing roller 268 is made in concave/concave-contact with either of the right and left intermediate regulating concave sections 269 and 270 of the eccentric cam 265, the pressing roller 268 is pressed integrally with the slider 271 in the pressing direction to advance or retreat so as to exert a pressing force toward the center of the eccentric cam 265. For this reason, upon receipt of this pressing force, the eccentric cam 265 is subjected to an increased rotation regulating force at the concave/convex contact position so that loads imposed on the intermediate regulating concave sections 269 and 270 in the two rotation directions are balanced with each other in a pressing-force balanced state. As a result, no rotating force is exerted on the eccentric cam 265 at the contact positions between the pressing roller 268 and the corresponding intermediate regulating concave sections 269 and 270.
Moreover, the cover 264, which is rotated in cooperation with the rotation of the eccentric cam 265, is allowed to rotate leftward (counter-clockwise direction) or rightward based on the reference position given by the longitudinally elongated main body 263. For this reason, as also shown in
In contrast, when the cover 264 is rotated rightward by 90 degrees, as shown in
The following description will discuss opening and closing operations of the mobile telephone 261 having the rotation support mechanism 262 having the above-mentioned structure.
Normally, as shown in
Moreover, the cover 264 that is integral with the eccentric cam 265 is allowed to rotate by 90 degrees so that the cover 264 is semi-automatically operated to open in a lateral position to the right at right-angles to the main body 263. Since this opening operation is symmetrically carried out laterally, the same opening operation is available also in the case of opening the cover 264 so as to stop in a lateral position to the left, as shown in
Moreover, when the cover is stopped in the lateral position, the cover 264 on which a display device 272 is mounted is placed laterally. With this arrangement, the display 272 can be viewed in its laterally disposed state. In this case, since the main body 263 still remains in its longitudinally disposed state, it is easily carried by one hand so that, in particular, this structure is suitable for such a case as to watch television images for a long time.
From this stopped state in the lateral position, when the cover 264 is further pushed upward by a finger tip so as to release the concave/convex contact state, the cover, which has received a pressing force from the pressing roller 268, is then rotated and stopped at the open position at 180 degrees, as shown in
In contrast, in an attempt to return the cover 264 that is in the stopped state in the lateral position at right-angles to the main body 263 to the original closed position, the cover 264 is rotated with the hand by 90 degrees in the closing rotation direction to be placed in the original position.
In this manner, by manually giving to the cover 264 in the closed position a slight rotary force so as to initiate the rotation in the opening direction, it is then successively rotated automatically by 90 degrees to be opened. For this reason, the user can easily carry out the opening operation through a one-touch operation by simply touching the cover 264 with one hand slightly in the rotation direction, thereby making it possible to improve the opening operability of the mobile telephone 261.
The following description will discuss another embodiment of the angle regulating mechanism to be used upon rotation-stopping the cover in the lateral position.
As shown in
On the lower face of the eccentric cam 332, regulating concave sections 337 each of which is position-determined in association with the top portion of the elevating plunger 336 at a position with the eccentric cam 332 being located after making a 90-degree rotation from the closed state are formed. Since these regulating concave sections 337 are formed symmetrically on the right and left sides, a concave/convex contact can be made at a rotation position with 90 degrees to stop the rotation in both of the leftward rotation and the rightward rotation.
With respect to the concave/convex contact at this time, by changing factors, such as the depth and the width of the concave/convex shapes and the pressing force, the positioning precision and the operation touch at the time of open-operating the cover can be changed to desired values. With respect to the concave/convex contact, one of the eccentric cam and the elevating plunger may be prepared as the concave section, with the other being prepared as the convex portion, and even when the concave and convex states are reversed, the same functions and effects can be obtained. In this manner, not only the peripheral face of the eccentric cam, but also the lower face of the eccentric cam may be used as the concave/convex contact portion, and the corresponding angle regulating operation is obtained.
With respect to the correspondences between the structures of the present invention and the structures of above-mentioned embodiments, the following correspondences are listed:
the closed-position related portion corresponds to the close-related concave portion 31, 266;
the open-position related portion corresponds to the open-related concave section 32, 267;
the pressing means corresponds to each of the parallel spring 16a, 16b, the slider 17, 157, 271, the pressing roller 18, 143, 158, 268, the pressing spring 142 and the tilting lever 144;
the angle regulating means corresponds to each of the left intermediate regulating concave section 269 and the right intermediate regulating concave section 270 of the eccentric cam, the pressing roller 268, or the elevating plunger 336, and the regulating concave section 337; however, the present invention can be modified based upon technical ideas indicated by claims, and is not limited only by the arrangements of the aforementioned embodiments.
For example, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the base 15 of the rotation support mechanism 14 is attached to the main body 12, and the plate 22 is attached to the cover 13; however, the base 15 may be attached to the cover 13, and the plate 22 may be attached to the main body 12 so that these members may be attached in a reversed manner. Moreover, in the aforementioned embodiments, the eccentric cam 19 having a laterally symmetric shape; however, not limited to this shape, the shape of the eccentric cam may be formed into a laterally asymmetric shape, or the surface resistances of the right and left peripheral surface portions of the eccentric cam may be made different from each other so that upon opening operation, the speeds of the leftward rotation and the rightward rotation may be made different from each other.
Moreover, each of the pressing rollers 18, 143 and 158 is arranged to apply a spring pressing force to each of the eccentric cams 19 and 161 through each of the sliders 17, 157 and 271 and the tilting lever 144; however, the sliders 17, 157 and 271 and the tilting lever 144 may be omitted to reduce the number of parts so as to directly apply the pressing force of the spring to each of the pressing rollers, 18, 143 and 158. Moreover, each of the rotation discs 20 and 162 and each of the plates 22 and 163 may be preliminarily prepared as the same part, and in this case, one of the parts can be omitted.
Moreover, with respect to the intermediate regulating concave sections 269 and 270 formed on the peripheral face of the eccentric cam 265, an example in which the cover 264 is placed at a position where it is rotated by 90 degrees from the closed position is given; however, not limited to this structure, it may be placed with a desired angle suitable for applications of the mobile telephone.
Not limited to the mobile telephone, the rotation supporting mechanism and the mobile terminal in accordance with the present invention may be applied to an open/close supporting portion for a mobile terminal such as an electronic notebook.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2004-239184 | Aug 2004 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP05/15080 | 8/18/2005 | WO | 00 | 9/17/2007 |