JP2746232B2 - Portable electronic devices - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable electronic device, and more particularly, to a portable electronic device capable of showing a display content of a display unit of a portable computer to a third party.

[0001]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a portable electronic device of this type, particularly a portable computer, a display section is configured to allow a third party to show display contents. It is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 5-150861 (Document 1) or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-228690 (Document 2).

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view showing a display-portable portable computer described in Document 1 described above.

Referring to FIG. 7, a portable computer includes an upper housing 101 and a lower housing 103. The upper housing 101 is provided with a display unit 102, and the lower housing 103 is provided with a keyboard 104. Further, a connecting portion 103 connecting the upper housing 101 and the lower housing 103 includes a hinge portion 109, a push button 105,
Is provided. The hinge portion 109 is connected to the upper housing 101.
Are provided for opening and closing the lower housing 103. The push button 105 releases the upper housing 101 from the lower housing 103 when pressed. The upper housing 101 is provided with a spring 106 and a wiring 106 for electrically connecting to the lower housing 103.

Next, the release will be further described. The connection portion 108 is provided with a hook (not shown), and the upper housing 101 is locked to the lower housing 103 by engaging with a spring 106 of the lower housing 103.
When the push button 105 is pressed by the user, the engagement between the hook and the spring 106 is released. When the user pulls out the upper housing 101 in the direction of arrow B in the drawing, the upper housing 101 is cut from the lower housing 103. Released.

[0005] The portable computer includes a display unit 102.
Can be separated from the lower housing 103 so that the user can operate the keyboard 104 and place the upper housing 101 at a position where the display unit 102 can be seen by a third party.

The configuration of the detachable display unit as described above is also disclosed in the above-mentioned document 2.

A portable computer for displaying the display contents to a third party is also disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 5-53891 (Reference 3) or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 4-238515 (Reference 4).
Are also disclosed.

FIG. 8A is a perspective view of the personal computer described in the above-mentioned Document 3 as viewed from the front.
(B) is the perspective view seen from the back.

In FIGS. 8A and 8B, a personal computer includes an upper housing 201 and a lower housing 2.
03. The upper housing 201 includes a display unit 202.
And 203 are provided, which display the same display contents. Further, a keyboard 204 is provided in the lower housing 203.

Since this personal computer is provided with display units 202 and 205 on the front and back of the upper housing 201, respectively, the user operates the keyboard 204 while looking at the display unit 202, and a third person operates the display unit 2 from the back.
05 can be seen.

The structure of such a display section is also shown in the above document 4.

[0012]

However, in the portable computers described in the above documents 1 and 2, when the upper housing is pulled out from the lower housing, the wiring is also pulled, so that the wiring may be disconnected.

Further, the personal computers described in Documents 3 and 4 have problems in that the cost is increased and the power consumption is increased because the upper housing is provided with two display units.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a portable electronic device in which an upper housing having a display unit can be rotated horizontally with respect to a lower housing.

[0015]

To achieve the above object, a portable electronic device according to the present invention comprises an upper housing having a display, a lower housing, and a connecting portion for connecting the upper housing and the lower housing. The rotation unit provided in the upper housing is inserted into a hole provided in the connection unit, and the rotation of the rotation unit causes the upper housing to rotate horizontally with respect to the lower housing. And

By adopting the above configuration, the upper housing rotates in the horizontal direction with respect to the lower housing, so that when the upper housing is pulled out from the lower housing, the wiring is pulled and the wiring is not broken, and the display unit is not damaged. Since there is no need to provide two, cost performance can be improved and power consumption can be reduced.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a portable computer showing one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the portable computer includes an upper housing 1 and a lower housing 2. The upper housing 1 is provided with a display unit 13 and a rotating unit 11.
The lower housing 2 is provided with a keyboard 21. The connecting portion 3 connecting the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 is provided with a hinge portion 4 and a hole 31. The upper housing 1 and the connection part 3 are provided with an engagement part 5 described in detail later.

The hinge portion 4 is provided for opening and closing the upper housing 1 with respect to the lower housing 2, and the engaging portion 5 is provided for engaging the upper housing 1 with the lower housing 2.
The rotating portion 11 and the hole 31 are provided for the upper housing 1 to rotate about the AA 'axis in the figure with respect to the lower housing 2 (hereinafter, horizontal rotation).

Next, FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c)
The rotation of the upper housing 1 with respect to the lower housing 2 in the horizontal direction will be described with reference to FIG. 2A to 2C are external perspective views illustrating horizontal rotation of the upper housing with respect to the lower housing.

First, as shown in FIG.
The upper housing 1 is rotated by the user in the horizontal direction with respect to the lower housing 2 so that the display contents of the display unit 13 can be shown to a third person on the opposite side with the front facing 3. 2B, the engagement of the engagement portions 5 at both ends of the upper housing 1 and the connection portion 3 is released, as shown in FIG. When the engagement portion 5 is disengaged, the upper housing 1 rotates with respect to the lower housing 2 about the AA 'axis in the figure, and the display unit 13 is turned back as shown in FIG. Turn to. And
By this rotation, the third party can see the display content of the display unit 13 from the back.

Next, the structure of the rotating part 1 and the hole 31 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the connecting portion of FIG.

In FIG. 3, the rotating portion 11 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and is inserted into a hole 31 having a substantially cylindrical shape. Since a gap is formed between the rotating unit 11 and the hole 31, the rotating unit 11 can rotate. The rotation of the rotating unit 11 allows the upper housing 1 to rotate in the horizontal direction with respect to the lower housing 3.

Next, the structure of the upper housing 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing the upper housing of FIG.

In FIG. 4, an electric wiring 12 is provided on the end face of the rotating part 11 opposite to the connection part with the upper housing 1, and the electric wiring 12 electrically connects the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 to each other. Connected. Since the electric wiring 12 has flexibility, the electric wiring 12 is not disconnected by the horizontal rotation of the upper housing 1 with respect to the lower housing 2.

Next, the structure of the engaging portion 5 is shown in FIG.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIGS. 5A to 5C are front views showing the engaging portion of FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c), the engaging portion 5 includes a projection 51 provided on the connection portion 3 and the upper housing 1.
And a coupling hole 52.

As shown in FIG. 5A, when the upper housing 1 is engaged with the connecting portion 3, the projection 51 is engaged with the coupling hole 52. In this state, when the upper casing 1 is pressed by the user so as to rotate in the horizontal direction with respect to the lower casing 2, as shown in FIG. Power is added. By this pressurization, the protrusion 51 sinks into the inside of the connection part 3. When the protrusion 51 sinks into the inside of the connection part 3, the engagement with the coupling hole 52 is released, and the upper housing 1 starts rotating. And FIG.
As shown in (c), as soon as the engagement between the projection 51 and the coupling hole 52 is released, the projection 51 is restored to the original state, and the horizontal rotation of the upper housing 1 with respect to the lower housing 2 is completed. Sinking and restoring of the projecting portion 51 with respect to the inside of the connection portion 3 are performed by using a spring inside the connection portion 3.

Next, the engagement of the rotating part 11 with the connecting part 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view showing the upper housing and the connection portion of FIG.

In FIG. 6, the tip of the rotating part 11
A stopper 111 is provided. This stopper 1
The upper housing 1 does not fall out of the joint 3 because 1 engages with the peripheral portion of the hole 13 of the connection 3.

In the above embodiment, a portable computer was described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to a portable computer.

[0037]

As described above, the portable electronic device according to the present invention is achieved by rotating the upper housing in the horizontal direction with respect to the lower housing when showing the display contents of the display unit to a third party. Therefore, the wiring that electrically connects the upper housing and the lower housing is pulled, so that the wiring does not break. Also, since there is no need to provide two display units, cost performance can be improved,
Power consumption can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a portable computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view for explaining horizontal rotation of a lower housing of the upper housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a connecting portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing an upper housing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view showing an engagement portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an external perspective view showing an upper housing and a connection part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an external perspective view showing a conventional portable computer.

FIG. 8 is an external perspective view showing a conventional personal computer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Upper housing 2 ... Lower housing 3 ... Connection part 4 ... Hinge part 5 ... Engagement part 11 ... Rotating part 12 ... Electric wiring 13 ... Display part 21 ··· Keyboard 31 ··· Hole 51 ··· Protrusion 52 ··· Coupling hole 111 ··· Stopper 101 ··· Upper housing 102 ··· Display unit 103 ··· Lower housing 104 ··· Keyboard 105 … Push button 106… spring 107… wiring 108… connection part 109… hinge part 201… upper housing 202… display unit 203… lower housing 204… keyboard 205 ··· Display unit

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An upper housing having a display unit, a lower housing, a connecting unit connecting the upper housing and the lower housing ,
A protrusion provided on the connection portion; and a protrusion provided on the upper housing.
And a coupling hole coupled to the protrusion.
An engaging portion for locking the housing to the lower housing;
And a hole provided in the upper housing,
And a rotating part inserted into the rotating part.
The portable electronic device , wherein the upper housing is rotated in a horizontal direction with respect to the lower housing by disengagement of the engagement portion . 2. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein an electric wiring for electrically connecting the upper housing and the lower housing is provided on the rotating unit. 3. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein a stopper for preventing the rotating portion from falling off when the rotating portion is inserted into the hole is provided in the rotating portion. . 4. The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a computer. 5. The method according to claim 5, wherein the rotation of the rotating portion includes
Disengage, the protrusion sinks into the interior of the connection
The portable electronic device according to claim 1, wherein: