Light guiding device

It is made possible to locate arbitrarily a light guiding device and a light emitting means. A notch (11) having a triangular cross-section is formed on a bottom (inner) side of a light guiding device (10) formed so as to have a rectangular cross-section. Furthermore, a light emitting source (12) is provided under the notch (11) of this light guiding device (10). The light emitting source (12) is mounted on a circuit board (13), and controlled according to the state of control or setting in, for example, the electronic appliance. When the light ray from the light emitting source (12) is irradiated toward the notch (11), the emitted light ray is reflected by a reflective face (14) formed by the notch (11) so as to be a plane and a front face (15) of the light guiding device (10) becomes luminous. In addition, the irradiated light ray is partially transmitted through the reflective face (14), and a top face (16) of the light guiding device (10) also becomes luminous. As a result, the two outer faces (15) and (16) become luminous.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a light guiding apparatus suitable for use 
in an indicator or the like for indicating the state of control and 
setting in, for example, electronic appliances. 
In an indicator of, for example, an electronic appliance, a light ray 
supplied from a light emitting means such as a light emitting diode (LED) 
and so on is emitted from an outer casing of the device to the outside to 
indicate the state of control or setting in, for example, the electronic 
appliance for the outside. In that case, a light guiding device 40 as 
shown in, for example, FIGS. 1A and 1B is used in conventional devices. 
In the examples shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the light guiding device 40 is 
formed by molding transparent, or milky white colored, light transmitting 
resin in a pillar form. One end of the light guiding device 40 faces the 
outside from an aperture 42 formed through an outer casing 41 of the 
device. In front of the other end of the light guiding device 40, a light 
emitting means 43 is disposed and controlled according to the state of 
control or setting in, for example, the electronic appliance. 
When the light emitting means 43 is lighted in this device by a control 
signal supplied from the circuit board 44, its light ray is incident on 
the other end of the light guiding device 40, propagated through the 
inside of the light guiding device 40, and emitted from the one end of the 
light guiding device 40. In other words, when the light emitting means 43 
is lighted, the one end of the light guiding device 40 inserted in the 
aperture 42 of the outer casing 41 of the device is lighted. Thereby, the 
state of the control or setting in, for example, the electronic appliance 
is indicated to the outside. 
In this light guiding device, the circuit board 44 is typically disposed 
horizontally within the outer casing 41 of the appliance, and the aperture 
42 is formed in the front face of the outer casing 41. In order to provide 
the light emitting means 43 in front of the other end of the above 
described light guiding device 40, therefore, a LED forming the light 
emitting means 43 is raised from the circuit board 44 by using a holder 
45, for example, and disposed at a desired position as shown in FIG. 1A. 
In this method, however, an extra part such as the holder 45 or the like is 
needed. Due to the increased numbers of parts and increased assembly 
workings, a problem of an increase in cost is posed. Alternatively, 
vertical disposition of the circuit board 44 as shown in FIG. 1B is also 
conducted. However, a space for disposing the circuit board 44 vertically 
is needed. For an appliance desired to be especially thin, the vertical 
disposition of the circuit board 44 cannot be adopted. 
The above described indicator is sometimes required to effect indication on 
both the front face and the top face of the appliance. For example, a 
control panel 50 incorporating therein a control means for manually 
controlling the power on/off, channel up/down, and tone volume 
increase/decrease, an indicator for indicating their control and setting 
states as one body or the like is disposed on a so-called bezel portion or 
the like of an outer frame of a display face of a television set as shown 
in FIG. 2. 
As shown in FIG. 3, the control panel 50 includes, for example, a group of 
switches such as a power on/off switch 52, a channel up/down switch 53, a 
tone volume increase/decrease switch 54, an input selection switch 55 and 
an input setting switch 56 or the like, and a group of indicators such as 
a power on indicator 57 and an indicator 58 indicating input setting or 
the like. In addition, statements 59 indicating contents of such 
control/setting switches and so on are also described thereon. 
And in the control panel 50, indications of the indicators 57 and 58 are 
conducted on two faces, i.e., the front face and the top face of the 
control panel 50. In the case where such indicators 57 and 58 conducting 
the indication on the two faces are to be formed, various light guiding 
devices 70 as shown in FIGS. 4A to 4D, for example, have been used in the 
conventional appliance. 
The light guiding device 70 shown in FIG. 4A is formed so as to have a 
nearly pentagonal cross-section. By making a light ray from a light 
emitting means 71 incident to a bottom face a of the light guiding device 
70 toward a vertex b, two faces c and d having the vertex b sandwiched 
therebetween become luminous. In this configuration, however, a holder 72 
for disposing the light emitting means 71 toward the vertex b or the like 
is needed. Due to an increase in the number of parts and so on, a problem 
of an increase in cost is posed. 
The light guiding device 70 shown in FIG. 4B is formed so as to have a 
rectangular cross-section. By making light rays from light emitting means 
71e and 71f incident respectively to two inner faces e and f of the light 
guiding device 70, two outer faces g and h thereof become luminous. In 
this configuration, however, two light emitting means 71e and 71f, the 
holder 72 and the like are needed. In this case as well, a problem of an 
increase in cost caused by an increase in the number of parts is posed. 
In FIG. 4C, a notch h having a triangular cross-section is formed on a top 
face g side of the light guiding device 70 formed so as to have a 
rectangular cross-section. By making a light ray from the light emitting 
means 71 incident to a bottom face i of the light guiding device 70, the 
incident light ray is reflected by a face j of the notch and therefore a 
front face k becomes luminous. In addition, the light ray is transmitted 
through the face j and a top face g also becomes luminous. Thus, the two 
outer faces g and k each become luminous. 
In this structure, however, forming the notch h on the top face g of the 
light guiding device 70 causes a change in design on the outer side of the 
device. In other words, the notch h on the top face g of the light guiding 
device 70 is formed on the outside of the device. Therefore, it is 
necessary to alter the outer design of the device so as to take this notch 
h into consideration. 
In FIG. 4D, curved faces m and n are formed on the light guiding device 70. 
A light ray from the light emitting means 71 is made incident to the light 
guiding device 70 from its bottom face p, reflected by these curved faces 
m and n, and thereby guided to a front face q and a top face r of the 
light guiding device 70. The faces q and r thus become luminous. However, 
this structure has a problem that, in particular, the light emission on 
the top face r is not favorable. This structure has also a problem that 
the volume of the light guiding device 70 itself becomes large and 
installation thereof is not easy. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of these points, the present invention has been made. An object of 
the present invention is to eliminate the problems of the conventional 
device that the location of the light guiding device and the light 
emitting means is restricted, the installation of them is not easy, and an 
extra part or the like, and a change in the design of the device are 
needed for installing them. 
In accordance with the present invention, therefore, a light ray from a 
light emitting means is reflected by a reflective face formed by molding 
resin so as to have a flat face and emitted to a desired one or more 
faces. As a result, the location of the light guiding device and the light 
emitting means can be arbitrarily set, whereby the installation of the 
light guiding device and the light emitting means is facilitated. 
In other words, the light guiding device according to the present invention 
is molded from resin, and has a reflective face formed by molding the 
resin so as to have a flat face, in which a light ray from the light 
emitting means is reflected by the reflective face to be emitted to a 
desired face or more faces. 
In the conventional device, the location of the light guiding device and 
the light emitting means is restricted, the installation thereof is not 
easy, and an extra part or the like and a change in the design of the 
device are needed for installing the same. The present invention can 
easily eliminate these problems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Hereafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the 
drawings. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an 
indicator of an electronic appliance to which a light guiding device 
according to the present invention has been applied. In the example of 
FIG. 5, a structure of the case where an indicator is provided on the 
front face of the appliance is shown. 
With reference to FIG. 5, a light guiding device 1 in this example is 
obtained by molding transparent resin, or milk white light transmitting 
resin in a pillar form. One end of the light guiding device 1 faces the 
outside from an aperture 3 formed through an outer casing 2 of the 
appliance. Furthermore, the other end of the light guiding device 1 is 
formed so as to have, for example, a plane 4 having an angle of 45 degrees 
with respect to an axis of the above described pillar portion thereof. 
Just below this plane 4, a light emitting means 5 is disposed. This light 
emitting means 5 is mounted on a circuit board 6, and controlled according 
to the state of control or setting in, for example, the electronic 
appliance. 
When the light emitting means 5 is lighted in this device by a control 
signal supplied from the circuit board 6, its light ray is made incident 
to the light guiding device 1 from its portion just under the other end 
thereof, totally reflected by the plane 4, and guided therethrough along 
the axis of its pillar portion. Furthermore, the light ray thus guided is 
emitted from the one end of the light guiding device 1. In other words, 
when the light emitting means 5 is lighted, the one end of the light 
emitting device 1 facing the aperture 3 of the outer casing 2 of the 
appliance becomes luminous. Thereby, the state of the control or setting 
in, for example, the electronic appliance is indicated to the outside. 
Specifically, in the light guiding device, the light emitting means 5 can 
be provided, for example, just below the other end of the light guiding 
device 1. As a result, the light emitting means 5 can be directly attached 
to the circuit board 6, for example. It becomes unnecessary to provide an 
extra holder or a circuit board and the like. Therefore, the space and 
cost can be prevented from increasing. In addition, the location of the 
light guiding device 1 and the light emitting means 5 can be arbitrarily 
determined, and the degree of freedom of the design of the appliance and 
the layout of the circuit board 6 can be expanded. 
In this device, the light ray from the light emitting means is reflected by 
a reflective face formed by molding resin so as to have a plane, and 
emitted from one or more desired faces. As a result, the location of the 
light guiding device and the light emitting means can be effected 
arbitrarily, and the light guiding device and the light emitting means can 
be installed easily. 
In the conventional device, the location of the light guiding device and 
the light emitting means is restricted, the installation of them is not 
easy, and an extra part or the like and a change in the design of the 
device are needed for installing same. The present invention can easily 
eliminate these problems. 
Further, FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing another example of an 
indicator of an electronic appliance to which a light guiding device 
according to the present invention has been applied. In the example of 
FIG. 6, a structure of the case where the indication of the indicator is 
effected on two faces, i.e., the front face and the top face of the device 
is shown. 
With reference to FIG. 6, a notch 11 having a triangular cross-section is 
formed on a bottom (inner) side of a light guiding device 10 molded from 
resin so as to have a rectangular cross-section. Furthermore, a light 
emitting means 12 is disposed below the notch 11 of the light guiding 
device 10. The light emitting means 12 is mounted on a circuit board 13, 
and controlled according to the state of control or setting in, for 
example, the electronic appliance. 
When a light ray from the light emitting means 12 is emitted toward the 
notch 11, the emitted light ray is reflected by a reflective face 14 
formed by the notch 11 so as to be a plane so that a front face 15 of the 
light guiding device 10 becomes luminous, and also, the emitted light ray 
is partially transmitted through the reflective face 14 with the result 
that a top face 16 of the light guiding device 10 also becomes luminous. 
As a result, the two outer faces 15 and 16 become luminous, respectively. 
According to this structure, therefore, since the notch 11 is formed on the 
bottom (inner) side of the light guiding device 10, a change is not caused 
in the design of the outer side of the appliance. In other words, the top 
face side and the front face side of the light guiding device 10 serving 
as the outer side of the appliance remain unchanged as before. In the 
design of the outer side of the appliance, it thus becomes completely 
unnecessary to pay special regard caused by the shape of the indicator. 
If in the case of this device the above described control panel 50, for 
example, is molded by injection molding, the above described light guiding 
device 10 is molded integrally therewith and the indicators 57 and 58, and 
the like on the control panel 50 can be formed by applying or depositing 
an arbitrary pigment to a surface other than the two luminous faces 15 and 
16. 
In the case where a pigment is to be melt-deposited on the surface of, for 
example, the control panel 50, the pigment is provided on an arbitrary 
film so as to form a desired shape by printing or the like. Then, to this 
film, arbitrary resin is injected. Thereby, the injection molding of the 
resin is conducted. At the same time, the pigment provided on the film is 
melt-deposited on the surface of the molded resin with the desired shape. 
On an arbitrary film 21, an arbitrary pigment 22 forming the entire surface 
of the control panel 50 is formed by printing or the like as shown in FIG. 
7, for example. Except portions 23 of this pigment 22 corresponding to the 
above described indicators 57 and 58, the printing or the like is 
conducted. Furthermore, characters 24 using a green pigment to represent 
the statement 59 of, for example, "POWER" and characters 25 using a white 
pigment to represent other statements are formed by printing or the like. 
Then, when this film 21 is gripped between metal molds 26 and 27 for 
molding the part and an arbitrary resin or the like is injected through an 
injection aperture 28, the part is molded, and simultaneously the above 
described arbitrary pigment 22 and the characters 24 and 25 using the 
green and white pigments are melt-deposited on the surface of the part. 
According to this method, therefore, the pigment 22 is melt-deposited on 
the entire surface of the part, and the pigment 22 is removed at the 
positions of the above described indicators 57 and 58 corresponding to the 
portions 23. Thus favorable indication can be conducted. 
The light guiding device according to the present invention is formed as 
described by molding only transparent or milky white colored light 
transmitting resin, and has a reflective face obtained by molding the 
resin so as to have a plane to reflect thereon the light ray emitted from 
the light emitting means to be emitted from one or more faces, the light 
guiding device and the light emitting means can be arbitrarily located and 
easily installed. 
Having described a preferred embodiment of the invention with reference to 
the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is 
not limited to the precise embodiment and that various changes and 
modifications could be effected therein by one skilled in the art without 
departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the 
appended claims.