Patent Abstract:
An upper housing and a lower housing of a mobile terminal apparatus has a hinge for rotatably and slidably supporting both the upper and lower housings at one end portion of each of the upper housing and the lower housing, and being able to slidably rotate one of the two housings relative to the other to make both the housings to be an opened state or a closed state. Further, positioning means performs a positioning in the closed state by detachably engaging the upper housing with the lower housing on another end portion opposite to the one end portion. As the positioning means is constituted of the projection and recess of the housings, the positioning means can be realized with a relatively simple structure and with a relatively low cost.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a mobile terminal apparatus, and more particularly to a mobile phone comprising an upper housing and a lower housing in which the upper housing is configured to be slidably and rotatably mounted on the lower housing. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Conventionally, a straight type or a flip type is very popular as a shape of a conventional mobile phone. Recently, another type has appeared, wherein an upper housing is placed on a lower housing, a display provided on a main surface of the upper housing is always exposed outside, the upper housing is configured to slidably rotate by 180 degrees via a hinge to expose a key input portion provided on the lower housing (a so-called 180-degree open style) such as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 2002-135380. 
   Among slide-rotation type mobile terminal apparatuses (hereinafter simply called a mobile terminal or a terminal), such type that, while holding one of housings with one hand, is able to rotate the other housing both in a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction, has advantages in satisfying both right-handed and left-handed users, or user preferences. 
   However, in a conventional slide-rotation type mobile terminal apparatus, positioning of the lower housing relative to the upper housing when both housings are closed and holding them to the position were relied upon a mechanism and precision of a hinge portion. Therefore, among others, the type in which the upper housing is able to rotate both in a clockwise direction and in a counterclockwise direction, has a low positioning precision because of a piece-to-piece variation of hinges, and the possibility that the position of the upper housing tends to be displaced or tilted relative to the lower housing in the closed state. In order to avoid this inconvenience, if the mechanism of the hinge portion is made complicated, there arises the problem of causing a cost increase. 
   The present invention has been made in the above-described background and an aspect of the invention is to provide a mobile terminal apparatus of a slide-rotation type having a novel structure capable of realizing a proper positioning and holding of both upper and lower housings with a relatively simple structure. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   A mobile terminal apparatus of the present invention is characterized by comprising: an upper housing and a lower housing; a hinge for rotatably and slidably supporting both the upper and lower housings at one end portion of each of the upper housing and the lower housing, and being able to slidably rotate one of the two housings relative to the other to make both the housings to be an opened state or a closed state; and positioning means for performing positioning in the closed state by detachably engaging the upper housing with the lower housing on another end portion opposite to the one end portion. 
   With this configuration, the hinge supports both the housings at one end portion of each of the upper housing and the lower housing to allow one of both the housings to slide and rotate relative to the other and make both the housings become the opened state or the closed state. The positioning means performs the positioning in the closed state by detachably engaging the upper housing with the lower housing on the other end portion opposite to the one end portion. 
   In the closed state, it is preferable that the upper housing is able to rotate in any of a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction relative to the lower housing. It is therefore possible to satisfy both right-handed and left-handed users, or user preferences. 
   In one preferred embodiment, the positioning means is constituted of a projection formed on one of confronting planes of the upper housing and the lower housing and a recess formed in the other and being engaged in by the projection. 
   The housing having the recess may include a slide contact member formed at least along a rotation locus of the projection, and the recess is formed in the slide contact member at least at one position. The slide contact member constitutes a route along which the projection abuts and slides during slide-rotation of the housing. 
   The slide contact member may include a projected bar formed at a position corresponding to the rotation locus of the projection. This projected bar functions to increase the height of a front end of the projection disengaged from the recess and contacting the slide contact member, by the height of the projected bar. Therefore, if a key input portion to be depressed and operated is formed on a main front surface of the lower housing, a back surface of the upper housing is spaced apart from the key input portion not only by the height of the projection but also by the height of the projected bar to prevent erroneous depression of any key. It is preferable to structure in a manner that the projection and recess have each a bilaterally symmetric sloped surface at least along the direction of the rotation locus of the projection, and while the projection is engaged in the recess, the projection contacts the surface of the recess on the sloped surfaces on both sides of the projection, and the front end portion of the projection will not contact the surface of the recess. In this manner, it is possible to prevent one housing from being displaced or tilted relative to the other in the closed state of both the housings, without relying upon the mechanism and precision of the hinge. 
   According to the present invention, in a mobile terminal of a slide-rotation type, since the positioning means is provided on the end portion opposite to the hinge, the positional displacement and tilting of both the housings can be avoided in the closed state, and the positioning precision in the closed state can be improved. Accordingly, a piece-to-piece variation of component precision for hinges can be permitted and the hinge is not required to have the more complicated mechanism and higher precision than necessary, so that the cost of the hinge can be reduced. 
   As the positioning means is constituted of the projection and recess of the housings, the positioning means can be realized with a relatively simple structure and with a relatively low cost. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a closed state of a mobile terminal which is a mobile phone of a slide-rotation type according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing the opened state of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a diagram showing the details of the upper end portion of the upper housing of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a more detailed diagram showing the lower side portion of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a broken perspective view showing the more specific structure of the upper housing and lower housing of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a plan view showing the closed (lapped) state of the upper housing and lower housing assembled together and having the specific structure of  FIG. 5 . 
       FIG. 7  is a cross sectional view of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 6  as viewed along arrow line Y-Y; 
       FIG. 8  is an enlarged view of the fitting portion of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 9  is a cross sectional view showing the main portion of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 6  as viewed along arrow line X-X; 
       FIGS. 10A to 10G  are diagrams showing the specific structure of the central segmented member of the slide contact member according to the embodiment of the present invention; and 
       FIGS. 11A to 11C  are diagrams showing the specific structure of the central segmented member of the projection support member according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   In the following, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiments, although description will be made by using a mobile phone by way of example, the present invention is applicable to an arbitrary mobile terminal apparatus if it has the structure of a slide-rotation type. 
     FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a mobile phone  100  in a closed state which is a slide-rotation type mobile phone according to a preferred embodiment. In this state, a back surface of an upper housing  102  is placed upon a main front surface of a lower housing  202  to lap both the housings.  FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the mobile terminal  100  in an opened state (released state). 
   As clearly shown in  FIG. 2 , the mobile terminal  100  includes the upper housing  102  and the lower housing  202 , a lower end portion of the upper housing  102  is lapped on an upper portion of the lower housing  202 , and around a hinge disposed at this lapped position, the upper housing  102  slidably rotates relative to the lower housing in the clockwise direction or counterclockwise direction. This rotation axis is extending in a direction generally vertical to the main front surfaces of both the housings. 
   In this specification, the description “the upper housing is rotated relative to the lower housing” is described in a relative relation, and a rotational operation of the housing is sufficient if one of the lower housing and upper housing is subjected to a relative rotation relative to the other, and one of the upper housing and lower housing may be used as a reference. 
   Most of the area of the main front surface of the upper housing  102  is occupied by a display portion  103 . The display portion  103  has a display device such as a liquid crystal device and an organic EL device, and its display screen is always exposed to an external. A speaker  101  is disposed in an upper portion of the display portion  103 . The speaker  101  is a device for converting electric audio signals into audible sounds. In a lower area of the display portion  103 , an operating portion  105  to be used for limited operations is disposed. The operating portion  105  includes various keys such as a call originating key, a power/end key, a clear key, a jog dial capable of being used for a cursor operation and the like, and others. At the lower end of the upper housing  102 , a microphone  106  is disposed for converting voices into electric audio signals. The position of the microphone  106  is not limited to the position shown in the drawing. With the structure shown in  FIG. 1 , it is possible to confirm an incoming call of the phone, mails and the like and to call a partner whose telephone number is registered in a telephone directory, even if the tipper and lower housings are closed (i.e., even if a key input portion  201  including ten-keys of the lower housing  202  is not exposed). 
   As seen from  FIG. 2 , the key input portion  201  to be depressed is disposed on the main front surface of the lower housing  202 , and hidden at the back of the upper housing  102  in the closed state of  FIG. 1 . The key input portion  201  includes ten-keys (including numerals 0 to 9, and symbols * and #), a manner key, a memo key, and the like. A slide contact member  211  is fixedly disposed under the key input portion  201  at the lower end of the lower housing  202 , i.e., at the end opposite to the hinge. A recess  212  is formed at least at one position (in this case, a central portion) of the slide contact member  201 . A projection  112 , to be later described, mounted on an upper end portion (refer to  FIG. 3 ) of the upper housing  102  on the back surface side is fitted in the recess  212  when both the housings  102  and  202  are closed. The projection  112  and the recess  212  constitute positioning means of the present invention for detachably engaging the upper housing  102  with the lower housing  202 . The slide contact member  211  further includes a plate-like member having a predetermined width and curve along the locus of the projection  112  moving during the slide-rotation of the housing. A projected bar  213  is formed on the surface of the plate-like member along with the moving locus of the projection  112 . The projection bar  213  abuts on the projection  112 , and in corporation with the height of the projection  112 , the projection bar  213  functions to float the upper housing  102  from the lower housing  202  by a predetermined amount in order to guarantee that the upper housing  102  depresses inadvertently the key and the like of the key-input portion  201  on the surface of the lower housing  202 . If the height of the projection  112  only is sufficient, the projected bar  213  is not necessarily required to be formed. However, if the projected bar  213  is utilized, it is not necessary to project the projection  112  higher than necessary. Conventionally, the front surface of the lower housing  202  is curved in the concave shape in order to prevent the front surface of the key input portion  201  from contacting the back surface of the upper housing  102 . The structure of this embodiment eliminates or reduces the necessity of the curved lower housing  202 . 
   The slide contact member  211  itself is desired to be made of material having a low friction coefficient. The material of this type may be synthetic resin such as polyacetal resin and polyamide (nylon). In this embodiment, a projection support member  111  is made of similar material. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , the projection support member  111  is fixedly mounted on the upper end portion of the upper housing  102  on the back surface thereof. The projection  112  projecting along a direction vertical to the main front surface is formed on the projection support member  111  at the position (in this case, a central portion) corresponding to the recess  212  formed in the slide contact member  211  of the lower housing  202 . In this example, the projection support member  111  is constituted of three segmented members  111   a ,  111   b  and  111   c . This is because screw holes (not shown) disposed at the back of the opposite end segmented members  111   b  and  111   c  are allowed to be accessed by removing both the segmented members. Therefore, the segmentation of the projection support member  111  is not an essential item of the present invention. Further, although the length of the projection support member  111  extends over the almost whole width of the upper housing  102 , the length may be the length of only the central portion having the projection  112 . 
     FIG. 4  is a diagram showing the details of the lower portion of the lower housing  202 . As seen from the drawing, similar to the projection support member  111 , the slide contact member  211  is also constituted of three segmented members  211   a ,  211   b  and  211   c . The reason for this is also the existence of screw holes at the back. However, the slide contact member  211  is desired to extend over the whole width of the lower housing  202  in order to allow the projection  112  to abut on the whole width of the lower housing  202 . 
     FIG. 5  is a broken perspective view showing the more specific structure of the upper housing  102  and the lower housing  202 . As seen from this drawing, the upper housing  102  is constituted of an upper member  121  and a low member  122 , and the projection support member  111  is detachably fixed to the lower end front surface (an end front surface opposite to the hinge  230 ) of the lower member  122 . The lower housing  202  is constituted of an upper member  221  and a lower member  222 , and the slide contact member  211  is detachably fixed to the lower end front surface (an end front surface opposite to the hinge  230 ) of the upper member  221 . 
   The hinge  230  is mounted on the upper end surface of the upper member  221  of the lower housing  202 . The hinge  230  is constituted of a base portion  232  and a rotary portion  231  both rotatable about a rotary shaft  233 . The rotary portion  231  has an engaging portion  234  for limiting the rotation of the rotary portion  231  relative to the base portion  232  to ±180 degrees. The engaging portion  234  abuts on an engaging portion (not shown) mounted on the base portion  232  or lower housing  202  at ±180 degree positions during the rotation of the rotary portion  231 , to thereby function as a stopper. 
     FIG. 6  is a plan view showing the closed (lapped) state of the assembled upper housing  102  and lower housing  202  having the specific structure of  FIG. 5 . This drawing shows the state that each part of the display portion and operating portion is not mounted. 
     FIG. 7  is a cross sectional view of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 6  as viewed along arrow line Y-Y. It can be seen from this drawing, the state that the projection  112  is engaged in the recess  212  when both the housings  102  and  202  are closed. This engaging portion is shown enlarged in  FIG. 8 . The projection  112  and recess  212  have each a bilaterally symmetric sloped surface (non-upright surface) along the direction of the rotation locus of the projection. While the projection  112  is engaged in the recess  212 , although the projection  112  contacts the front surface of the recess  212  on sloped surfaces  114  and  115  on both sides of the projection  112 , a front end portion  113  of the projection  112  will not contact the front surface of the recess  212 . To this end, a curvature R 1  of radius of the bottom of the recess  212  and a curvature R 2  of radius of the front end curved portion of the projection  112  are set to be R 2 &gt;R 1 . Both the housings  102  and  202  can be positioned and held correctly at the position where the sides of both the housings are aligned together if the widths of both the housings are equal, without a lateral dislocation of the upper housing relative to the lower housing. 
   The hinge  230  operates to exert a force on the upper housing  102  and lower housing  202  to maintain the state that both the housings become near each other along the axis direction of the hinge  230  (in other words, a force resisting a force which seperates both the housings away from each other along the axis direction). Therefore, the state that the projection  112  is engaged in the recess  212  is maintained unless an external force is exerted. As a user applies a force to one housing to rotate the other housing, the projection  112  is removed from the recess  212  and rides upon the projected bar  213  of the other housing. In this case, an abutting point (or surface) of the projection  112  slides on the sloped surface of the recess  212 . At this time, a force component along a direction seperating the lower housing  202  from the upper housing  102  is generated in accordance with the force of rotating the housing(s). Therefore, in order to retract the projection  112  from the recess  212 , the user is not required to hold the upper housing  102  above the lower housing  202 , and it is sufficient for the user to merely rotate the housing(s). 
     FIG. 9  shows the main parts in the cross sectional view of the mobile terminal of  FIG. 6  as viewed along arrow line X-X. As understood from the comparison with  FIG. 7 , the cross sectional shape of the projection  112  is not required to be the same in both the X-X cross section and the Y-Y cross section perpendicular to each other. 
     FIGS. 10A to 10G  show examples of specific structures of the central segmented member  211   a  of the slide contact member  211 .  FIG. 10A  is a back view thereof,  FIG. 10B  is a left side view,  FIG. 10C  is a plan view,  FIG. 10D  is a cross sectional view as viewed along arrow line B-B of  FIG. 10C ,  FIG. 10E  is a cross sectional view as viewed along arrow line A-A of  FIG. 10C ,  FIG. 10F  is a cross sectional view as viewed along arrow line C-C of  FIG. 10C , and  FIG. 10G  is a front view. This segmented member  211   a  is detachably fixed to the upper member  221  of the lower housing  202 , by engaging portions  214  projecting toward the back side. 
     FIGS. 11A to 11C  show examples of specific structures of the central segmented member  111   a  of the projection support member  111 .  FIG. 11A  is a plan view of the segmented member  111   a ,  FIG. 1B  is a cross sectional view as viewed along arrow line A-A of  FIG. 11A , and  FIG. 11C  is a back view. This segmented member  111   a  is detachably fixed to the lower member  122  of the upper housing  102 , by engaging portions  116  projecting at both ends. 
   The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. It is possible to make various modifications and changes in addition to those described above. 
   For example, although the projection is disposed on the upper housing side and the recess is disposed on the lower housing side, this relation may be reversed. However, since the key input portion is disposed on the front surface of the lower housing, it can be considered that the first-mentioned structure is advantageous from the viewpoint of the operation of the key input portion and the outer appearance. Further, as described earlier, although the present invention is suitable for the application to the type that the housing can be rotated in both the clockwise direction and counterclockwise direction, it is not intended to exclude the application to the type that the housing can be rotated only in one direction.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7