Foldable portable information terminal

• US 20030064758A1
• Filed: 09/30/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Nagai, Michio, Mizuta, Masatomo, Fujii, Mika, Shimamura, Masaki, Kohayakawa, Kiyoshi, Sendouda, Mitsuru, Ohtsuta, Kazuo
• Granted Patent: US 7,499,737 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0212 with a two degrees of freedom mechanism, i.e. folding around a first axis and rotating around a second axis perpendicular to the first
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0241 using relative motion of the body parts to change the operational status of the telephone set, e.g. switching on/off, answering incoming call

Abstract

A foldable portable information terminal includes an upper unit having a display unit on its one side, a lower unit having operation keys on its one side, and a movable connecting mechanism connecting the upper unit and the lower unit allowing the upper unit to be opened, closed, and freely rotated with respect to a longitudinal direction of the lower unit. The displaying mode of the display unit whose direction varies depending on a position of the upper unit is changed depending on a positional relationship of the upper unit and the lower unit.

Claims

1. A foldable portable information terminal comprising:

a first unit having a display section on its one side;

a second unit having an operation section; and

a movable connecting mechanism connecting the first unit and the second unit at one end thereof, wherein the movable connecting mechanism allows the first unit to be opened, closed, and freely rotated with respect to a longitudinal direction of the second unit.

2. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the movable connecting mechanism is a biaxial hinge which connects the first unit to the second unit so that the first unit is allowed to be opened and closed and rotated freely,

wherein the biaxial hinge comprises:

a first rotation axis which is securely and rotatably provided on an operation surface of the second unit in vicinity of one end thereof, the first rotation axis protruding approximately vertically from the operation surface; and

a second rotation axis which is orthogonal to the first rotation axis and is provided in vicinity of a front end of the first rotation axis to axially and rotatably support the first unit.

3. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the movable connecting mechanism is fixedly disposed at a position that is deviated from center of one end of the operation surface of the second unit.

4. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first stopping mechanism for stopping the first unit and the second unit at a predetermined rotation position; and

a second stopping mechanism for stopping the first unit and the second unit in a predetermined open and close state.

5. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 4, further comprising:

a rotation energizing mechanism for energizing the first unit and the second unit from the vicinity of the predetermined rotation position to a stop state position; and

an open and close energizing mechanism for energizing the first unit and the second unit from the vicinity of the predetermined open and close state position to a stop state position.

6. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first restricting means for restricting a range of rotation of the first unit with respect to the second unit within a predetermined rotation angle range; and

a second restricting means for restricting the first unit and the second unit within a predetermined open and close angle range.

7. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 6, wherein a rotation range of the first unit is restricted within a rotation angle range from −

180°

to +180°

.

8. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the first unit further has a secondary display section on the other side thereof.

9. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:

a position detector for determining an open and closed state and a rotation positional relationship of the first unit and the second unit.

10. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 9, wherein the position detector comprises:

a plurality of magnetic field generators which are each provided at predetermined positions within one of the first and second units;

a plurality of magnetic field detectors which are each provided at predetermined positions within the other of the first and second units, corresponding to the magnetic field generators; and

a position determining section for determining a position of the first unit based on detection signals of the magnetic field detectors, wherein each detection signal varies depending on a positional relationship between the first unit and the second unit.

11. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 9, further comprising:

a display controller controlling the display section of an approximately rectangular shape such that a displaying mode of the display section is changed depending on a positional relationship between the first unit and the second unit.

12. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 11, wherein the display controller changes a direction of displayed contents on the display section so that the direction of the displayed contents matches a longitudinal direction of the second unit independently of a longitudinal direction of the display section which is one of a parallel direction and an orthogonal direction with respect to the longitudinal direction of the second unit.

13. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 11, wherein the display controller changes a direction of displayed contents on the display section so that the direction of the displayed contents matches a position of the second unit in a state that the first unit and the second unit are closed with the display section facing out.

14. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 3, wherein a part of the operation section on the second unit is exposed in a state that the first unit and the second unit are closed with the display section facing out, wherein a predetermined function is allocated to each key included in the part of the operation section.

15. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the first unit has a second operation section which faces out when the first unit and the second unit are closed with the display section facing out so that the second operation section be used to perform a menu operation, an image operation, and a call arrival operation while visually confirming displayed contents on the display section.

16. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 15, wherein the second operation section is a touch panel provided on the display surface of the display section.

17. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 15, wherein the second operation section comprises at least one operation button provided on a side surface of the first unit.

18. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein a directional operation performed by using the operation section is changed depending on a positional relationship between the first unit and the second unit.

19. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 18, wherein a direction instructed by a direction indication key of the operation section is changed depending on a positional relationship between the first unit and the second unit, which is one of an open state, a rotated state, and a closed state with the display section facing out.

20. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 16, further comprising:

a touch panel function controller for changing a touch panel function enabled area of the touch panel on the display surface depending on a positional relationship between the first unit and the second unit.

21. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display section is stopped displaying and/or backlighting in a state that the first unit and the second unit are closed with the display section facing in.

22. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 9, further comprising:

an alert device for generating an alert for at least a call arrival by using at least one of sound, vibration, light, and the display section; and

an alert controller controlling the alert device such that, when the position detector detects that the first unit and the second unit are shifted to a normal conversation position in a state that the alert device is alerting for the call arrival, the alert controller stops the alert device alerting.

23. The foldable portable information terminal according to claim 9, further comprising:

a call arrival and termination controller controlling such that the foldable portable information terminal is made off-hook when the position detector detects that the first unit and the second unit are shifted to a normal conversation position at an occurrence of an incoming call, and on-hook when the position detector detects that the first unit and the second unit are shifted from the normal conversation position to another position after the call has been terminated.